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. 2022 Oct;89(10):1016-1018.
doi: 10.1007/s12098-022-04127-x. Epub 2022 Feb 19.

Comparison of COVID-19 Infection in Children During the First and Second Wave

Sriram Krishnamurthy  1 , Sitanshu Sekhar Kar  2 , Rahul Dhodapkar  3 , Narayanan Parameswaran  4
Affiliations

Comparison of COVID-19 Infection in Children During the First and Second Wave

Sriram Krishnamurthy et al. Indian J Pediatr. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

Concerns have been raised in the media that 'the third wave' will severely affect children. Here, an experience of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children is reported. Of the 8,626 SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR tests performed in children (0-17 y) from March 2020 to July 2021 at the authors' institute, 1470 (17%) were positive, [711/4821 (14.7%) during the first wave (July 2020 to January 2021), and 759/3583 (21.2%) during the second wave (February 2021 to July 2021)]. The children in both waves were similar in presentation (74.1% mildly symptomatic versus 80.2% mildly symptomatic; rest asymptomatic). None of them had COVID pneumonia. Five children died (0.3%), all of a serious primary non-COVID disease. Seventy-three cases of MIS-C during August 2020 to July 2021, with low mortality (2.7%) were also identified. The similarity in COVID-19 infection in children between the first and the second waves seems to suggest that the likelihood of the 'third wave' hitting children hard is low.

Keywords: COVID; Children; MIS-C; SARS-CoV-2 infection; Third wave.

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Conflict of interest statement

None.

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Supplementary concepts