Covid-19: Long-lasting virus symptoms rare in children, says Lancet

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: Children seem to be relatively safer from the Covid-19 pandemic as long-lasting symptoms of the disease are rare in their cases, The Lancet has said.

Most coronavirus-infected kids usually recover after six days, and the number of those experiencing symptoms beyond a month is low, according to a study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal.

The study, based on data collected through a smartphone app by parents and carers, provides the first detailed description of Covid-19 illness in symptomatic school-aged kids, media reported on Wednesday.

“It is reassuring that the number of children experiencing long-lasting symptoms of Covid-19 symptoms is low. Nevertheless, a small number of children do experience long illness with Covid-19, and our study validates the experiences of these children and their families,” said Professor Emma Duncan, who led the study, from King’s College, London, United Kingdom.

Some adults experience a prolonged illness after Covid-19, described as long-Covid, where symptoms persist for four weeks or longer, but it is not known whether children can develop a similar condition or how common this is.

Many children infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus do not develop symptoms, but those who do tend to have a mild illness. This research used data collected through the ZOE COVID Study smartphone app, which includes data from more than 250,000 children, aged five to 17 years in the UK, between September 1, 2020, and February 22, 2021.

Some 1,734 children developed symptoms of the disease and received a positive Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test result close to the onset of symptoms, with their symptoms reported regularly until they were healthy again.

These children were ill for an average of six days and experienced three symptoms in the first week of illness, confirming that Covid-19 tends to manifest as a mild illness in children and that they usually recover quickly. Most children recovered within four weeks.

In 84 percent of cases, children had only two symptoms remaining after four weeks, the most common being fatigue. Headache was more common early in illness while loss of sense of smell tended to occur later and persist longer.

Of the 1,379 children who developed symptoms at least two months before the end of the study period, less than 2 percent experienced symptoms for longer than eight weeks.

Older children (12 to 17 years) were ill for longer than primary school kids (5 to 11 years) and were also more likely to have symptoms after four weeks than younger ones. But there was no difference in the numbers of children who still had symptoms after eight weeks, it said.

The researchers also assessed those who tested negative for Covid-19 but may have had other childhood illnesses, such as colds and flu. Those with Covid-19 were ill for longer periods.