An international team of scientists from Italy, the UK and Russia led by Piero Valentini of the Institute for Global Health Research (Rome) investigated the presence and duration of COVID-19 symptoms in children.
Experts have collected information on 129 infected people under the age of 18. The number of boys and girls was approximately equal, the average age of patients was 11 years.
Four months after the onset of infection, 42% of children recovered completely, just over a third complained of one or two signs of illness, and about a quarter had more than three symptoms.
The most common patients suffered from insomnia, pain and tightness in the chest, nasal congestion, fatigue and pain in the muscles and joints. Each of the symptoms was reported by between 6% and 18% of the children in the study.
In addition, one tenth of the respondents reported that they had difficulty concentrating. More often, the symptoms persisted in those who were seriously ill with the infection, but they also occurred in those who were asymptomatic.
The symptoms described in the study may well be an exaggeration, especially if the parents answered the questions about the well-being of the children, noted a leading researcher at the laboratory of molecular biology at Moscow State University. Lomonosov Roman Zinovkin.
The worries about the condition of the ill child stimulate to note any trifle, therefore such a frightening “long-shaped” picture is obtained, he believes.
“A more unbiased picture can be obtained by comparing the condition of those who have recovered from COVID-19 and another respiratory virus, for example, influenza in children,” the expert explained.
However, the authors of the article raised an important topic: a lot is known about the “Longkovid” in adults, but there is almost no information about children, the specialist noted.
Read more in the exclusive material of Izvestia:
Viral defect: half of children have symptoms of COVID-19 for months