More severe symptoms for children infected with the Omicron variant? A higher percentage of baby-patients hospitalized with Covid in this wave than in previous ones in the United States, but also in other countries, prompted scientists to ask themselves a question: Does Omicron hit children the hardest? The new variant of Sars-CoV-2 has raged around the world in the last 2 months and millions of people have ended up in hospital, even the smallest ones. But estimates – according to ‘Nature’ online – show that the individual risk of hospitalization for a child with Omicron is actually one-third to one-half lower than when the Delta variant was dominant. And hospitalized children do not have more serious diseases than other variantssays Michael Absoud, a specialist in women’s and children’s health at King’s College London.
Preliminary UK data shows that although the percentage of babies hospitalized with Covid increased during the Omicron wave, particularly of those under the age of one year, babies required fewer medical interventions such as ventilation and oxygen. additional. These results reflect a trend in the general population: with Omicron, the risk of hospitalization or death appears to be lower than with Delta, especially in immunized and younger populations. But Scientists are still trying to understand why Omicron has led to a disproportionate number of hospitalizations in children. In the United States, for example, they make up about 5%, up to 4 times higher than in previous waves.
One possible explanation, the experts reason, is that the extremely high transmissibility of the variant, combined with the lack of immunity accumulated from vaccination or previous infections, makes children more vulnerable to the Omicron than adults who have had access to vaccines for months. . Another possibility is that Omicron’s multitude of mutations made the disease different and perhaps slightly more severe in younger children than in adult populations, says Andrew Pavia, head of the division of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Utah Health.
Early evidence suggests that Omicron may not infect lung cells as quickly as upper airway cells. But children have relatively small nasal passages that can be easily blocked, so pediatric upper respiratory infections sometimes require more attention than those in adults.
For example, Roberta DeBiasi, who heads the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Division at Children’s National Hospital in Washington DC, notes that she and her colleagues have noticed an increase in the number of children with upper airway inflammation that produces a characteristic cough. ‘ barking ‘. This, the experts conclude, adds credence to the theory that Omicron could infect children differently than adults.
As for the Long Covid and Mis-C multisystem inflammatory syndrome, a rare condition that has been detected in previous waves among the little ones, “we would have already started to see the” warning “signal and we have not seen it,” says Absoud. “That does not mean that we are safe,” adds the expert, “because the disease may take longer to develop. But it is an encouraging sign that there has not yet been a wave of children hospitalized for the condition.” concludes.