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. 2022 Mar 15;3(3):100558.
doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100558.

COVID-19 in children: From afterthought to unknown

Donato Amodio  1 , Nicola Cotugno  1   2 , Paolo Palma  1   2
Affiliations

COVID-19 in children: From afterthought to unknown

Donato Amodio et al. Cell Rep Med. .

Abstract

Children were initially considered unsusceptible to severe COVID-19. Our knowledge after two years has changed dramatically, but there are still many unknowns. Here, we report the current knowledge about why children generally experience a milder COVID-19 course and highlight research questions about pediatric infection that require answers.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Main theories behind differences between children and adults in SARS-CoV-2 infection (A) Different expression of ACE-2 between children and adults. (B) Prior immunity to other common cold viruses including other strains of coronaviruses in children compared to adults. (C and D) Main differences in terms of immune and inflammatory response in infancy and adulthood. (E) The different burden of genetic predisposition and comorbidities in children and adults. (F) Frequency of vaccine administration decreases with age. ACE-2, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2; ADE, antibody-mediated enhancement. Created with BioRender.com.
None
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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