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. 2021 Feb 4;11(1):3044.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-81934-w.

Nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral loads in young children do not differ significantly from those in older children and adults

Sharline Madera  1 , Emily Crawford  2   3   4 , Charles Langelier  5   2 , Nam K Tran  6 , Ed Thornborrow  7 , Steve Miller  7 , Joseph L DeRisi  2   4
Affiliations

Nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral loads in young children do not differ significantly from those in older children and adults

Sharline Madera et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

The role of children in the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has become a matter of urgent debate as societies in the US and abroad consider how to safely reopen schools. Small studies have suggested higher viral loads in young children. Here we present a multicenter investigation on over five thousand SARS-CoV-2 cases confirmed by real-time reverse transcription (RT) PCR assay. Notably, we found no discernable difference in amount of viral nucleic acid among young children and adults.

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Conflict of interest statement

Nam Tran is a consultant for Roche Diagnostics. UC Davis Health is a designated Roche Molecular Center of Excellence. All other authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Age distributed nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral nucleic acid content. SARS-CoV-2 viral nucleic acid detected by real-time RT-PCR in nasopharyngeal swabs from patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 as detected by (A) laboratory A (N = 4619, ANOVA p = 0.18) and (B) laboratory B (N = 925, ANOVA p = 0.073). Data are stratified by three age groups, ages < 5; 5–17; 18 and older.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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