FEATURES AND CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS OF COVID-19 IN CHILDREN

A novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has raised world concern since it emerged in Wuhan, China in December 2019. The infection may result in severe pneumonia with clusters of illness onsets. Its impacts on public health make it paramount to clarify the clinical features with other pneumonias. Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a leading cause of severe infections in children, especially among the ones below the age of five, causing on a global scale the 14 % of deaths within this age group. Moreover, despite the majority of children with CAP heals, it has been estimated that complications may occur in the 3 % of CAP. Complicated community-acquired pneumonia (CCAP) include empyema, necrotizing pneumonia, and lung abscess along with systemic complications like septic shock, disseminated infection and multiorgan failure. It has been proved that viral infections (influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)) constitute the primary cause of CAP and an important risk factor for CCAP in children. COVID-19 affects children less seriously than adults; however, severe cases and deaths are documented. This study objective is to determine socio-demographic, clinical and laboratory indicators associated with severe pediatric COVID-19 and mortality at hospital entrance.