New Delhi: Infants can also get infected by coronavirus even though they appear to have been largely spared by the deadly disease, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
The latest study contradicts earlier reports which suggest that the virus primarily infects people older than 15 years of age.
For their study, the researchers had identified nine infected infants who were hospitalised between 8 December 2019 and 6 February 2020. The youngest was aged 1 month and the oldest 11 months.
These children reported symptoms of fever, cough or other mild respiratory discomfort. However, “none of the nine infants required intensive care, mechanical ventilation or had any severe complications”, the study noted.
By this observation, the researchers noted that babies could have a lower risk of exposure to the deadly virus. “This may be due to a lower risk of exposure or incomplete identification due to mild or asymptomatic disease, rather than resistance to infection,” it says.
The study published in JAMA, a peer-reviewed medical journal, was published on 14 February and has been approved by the institutional review board of the School of Health Sciences, Wuhan University.
It also found that seven out of the nine infected infants were female, contradicting previous studies which found higher percentages of infection in men than women.
A study published in The Lancet had earlier noted: “The 2019-nCoV infection…is more likely to affect older males with comorbidities [presence of one or more additional conditions co-occurring with a primary condition], and can result in severe and even fatal respiratory diseases such as acute respiratory distress syndrome.”
Another study in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) echoed similar findings: “…among the first 425 patients with confirmed NCIP (novel coronavirus–infected pneumonia), the median age was 59 years and 56 per cent were male.”
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Seven infected infants linked to Wuhan
Families of all nine infants had at least one infected family member, says the new study.
Seven of the nine babies were reported to be either living in Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic, or having family members who had visited Wuhan. One of them was found to have no direct linkage to Wuhan, and there was no information on another.
“The study was limited by small sample size, inclusion only of infants who were hospitalised, and lack of inclusion of asymptomatic patients,” it noted.
While four infants reported fever, two had mild upper-respiratory tract infection. One had no symptom but tested positive for the virus, COVID-19. There was no information available on symptoms in two infants.
‘Adult caretakers dealing with infants should wear masks’
The study says that family members of infected infants “should be monitored or evaluated and family clustering should be reported to ensure a timely diagnosis”.
It also notes that since infants younger than one year of age cannot wear masks, specific protective measures should be taken while handling them.
“Adult caretakers should wear masks, wash hands before close contact with infants, and sterilise the infants’ toys and tableware regularly,” it says.
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