Why don't children seem to get very ill from the coronavirus?
Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2237259-why-dont-children-seem-to-get-very-ill-from-the-coronavirus/#ixzz6Gt1BNxXv
It has been widely reported that children are less likely to get severely ill and die from the new coronavirus. A recent study of 44,672 people with confirmed covid-19 infection found that children under 10 years old made up less than 1 per cent of those cases and none of the 1023 deaths.
“This is unlike flu,” says Akiko Iwasaki at Yale University. With flu, young children and older people are usually the most severely affected, so why is the new coronavirus different? It is a bit of a mystery.
A straightforward explanation would be that children are resisting infection in the first place, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. One recent study even found children to be just as likely as adults to get infected.
In any case, children that do become infected are still less likely to get sick with covid-19 and die – a similar trend to that seen with SARS or MERS, two other severe diseases caused by coronaviruses. So, what is protecting children?
Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2237259-why-dont-children-seem-to-get-very-ill-from-the-coronavirus/#ixzz6Gt7B7t27
Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2237259-why-dont-children-seem-to-get-very-ill-from-the-coronavirus/#ixzz6Gt1BNxXv
It has been widely reported that children are less likely to get severely ill and die from the new coronavirus. A recent study of 44,672 people with confirmed covid-19 infection found that children under 10 years old made up less than 1 per cent of those cases and none of the 1023 deaths.
“This is unlike flu,” says Akiko Iwasaki at Yale University. With flu, young children and older people are usually the most severely affected, so why is the new coronavirus different? It is a bit of a mystery.
A straightforward explanation would be that children are resisting infection in the first place, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. One recent study even found children to be just as likely as adults to get infected.
In any case, children that do become infected are still less likely to get sick with covid-19 and die – a similar trend to that seen with SARS or MERS, two other severe diseases caused by coronaviruses. So, what is protecting children?
Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2237259-why-dont-children-seem-to-get-very-ill-from-the-coronavirus/#ixzz6Gt7B7t27
