A Review on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Pediatric Patients

Context: A series of unexplained pneumonia cases were first reported as of December 2019, in Wuhan, China. Oÿcial names have been announced for the novel human coronavirus responsible for the pneumonia outbreak in China, and the disease it causes has been announced Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Despite great e orts worldwide to control the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, the spread of the virus has recently reached a pandemic. Currently, infection prevention and control of this virus are the primary con-cerns for public health oÿcials and professionals. In this review, the current status of epidemiology, diagnosis, and potential treat-ment options of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children and the possible reasons for milder presentations of COVID-19 in children than in adults were discussed to provide an insight into the further characterization of COVID-19 in children. Evidence Acquisition: The most recent evidence about the clinical features and potential reasons for the non-susceptibility of children to SARS-CoV-2 infection have been provided in the present narrative review. A systematic search was performed in some databases/search engines, including ISI Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Then, the relevant published articles were reviewed. The keywords utilized for finding related articles were Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), pediatric, COVID-19, treatment, Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2), clinical feature, coronavirus, and pneumonia. Results: Based on the findings, respiratory infections caused by the virus are more frequent in children aged five years or younger than in other age groups. However, the currently available data suggest that COVID-19 infection in children seems to be uncom-mon. Moreover, in the case of infection with SARS-CoV-2, the disease presentation is frequently milder than in adults and the overall burden in children was reported to be relatively low. Conclusions: Several explanations have been suggested to justify the milder symptoms in children than in adults, including di er-ences in immunity systems of children and adults and di erences in ACE2 expression as a receptor for virus attachment. Moreover, while children tend to present mild symptoms of infection, their role in the spread of the disease in the community should not be ignored.