Sim Jun Yi, Wu Ping-Sheng, Cheng Ching-Feng, Yiang Giou-Teng, Yu Chun-Hsien
Department of Pediatrics, Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, 289 Jianguo Road, Xindian District, New Taipei City 23142, Taiwan.
Department of Pediatrics, Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, 289 Jianguo Road, Xindian District, New Taipei City 23142, Taiwan; Department of Pediatrics, Buddhist Tzu Chi University College of Medicine, Hualien, Taiwan.
J Microbiol Immunol Infect. 2022 Dec;55(6 Pt 1):1108-1115. doi: 10.1016/j.jmii.2021.12.004. Epub 2021 Dec 31.
Characteristics of children with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Taiwanese households is nascent. We sought to characterize SARS-CoV-2 infection, and estimate the relative risk of infection among children within households during school closures in Taipei and New Taipei City.
We reviewed consecutive children below 18 years presenting to our emergency department from May 18, 2021 to July 12, 2021 who underwent real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) for SARS-CoV-2 from respiratory swabs. Demographics, symptoms, and contacts were captured from medical records. Household contact was defined as an individual with confirmed COVID-19 living in the same residence as the child.
Among 56 children with SARS-CoV-2, twenty-five (45%) were male with mean age of 7.9 years. Symptoms were nonspecific, with 29% having fever, 32% having cough, and 48% were asymptomatic. The median cycle threshold (Ct) value of SARS-CoV-2 rRT-PCR was 25 (range 11-38). All 56 children reported 94 contacts with a COVID-19 patient, of which 99% were household contacts. The relative risk of infection was 8.5 (95% CI 5.0-14.7) for children whose parent(s) were COVID-19 patients, and 7.3 (95% CI 4.9-11.0) for children whose household grandparent(s) were patients, as compared to children without respective contacts. Children without COVID-19 contacts were all tested negative.
During school closures in Taipei and New Taipei City, children with SARS-CoV-2 infection in our cohort had one or more COVID-19 contacts, mostly within their households. While diagnosing pediatric COVID-19 is challenging as children were often asymptomatic, those without contacts were likely uninfected.
台湾家庭中感染严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）儿童的特征尚不清楚。我们试图描述SARS-CoV-2感染的特征，并估计台北市和新北市学校停课期间家庭内儿童之间的相对感染风险。
我们回顾了2021年5月18日至2021年7月12日期间连续就诊于我们急诊科的18岁以下儿童，这些儿童接受了呼吸道拭子的SARS-CoV-2实时逆转录聚合酶链反应（rRT-PCR）检测。从病历中获取人口统计学信息、症状和接触史。家庭接触者定义为与该儿童居住在同一住所且确诊感染新冠病毒的个体。
在56例感染SARS-CoV-2的儿童中，25例（45%）为男性，平均年龄7.9岁。症状无特异性，29%的儿童有发热，32%的儿童有咳嗽，48%的儿童无症状。SARS-CoV-2 rRT-PCR的中位循环阈值（Ct）值为25（范围11-38）。所有56名儿童报告与94名新冠患者有接触，其中99%为家庭接触者。与无相应接触的儿童相比，父母为新冠患者的儿童的相对感染风险为8.5（95%CI 5.0-14.7），家庭祖父母为患者的儿童的相对感染风险为7.3（95%CI 4.9-11.0）。无新冠接触史的儿童检测均为阴性。
在台北市和新北市学校停课期间，我们队列中感染SARS-CoV-2的儿童有一名或多名新冠接触者，大多数为家庭内接触。虽然诊断儿童新冠感染具有挑战性，因为儿童通常无症状，但无接触史的儿童可能未感染。
