SARS-CoV-2 and rhinovirus infections: are there differences in clinical presentation, laboratory abnormalities, and outcomes in the pediatric population?
Maria Fernanda Badue PereiraPriscila SuguitaNadia LitvinovSylvia Costa Lima FarhatCamila Sanson Yoshino de PaulaCarolina Dos Santos LázariPedro Vale BedêJuliana Valeria de Souza FramilCatarina BuenoPriscila Cristina Abduch Adas BranasIrina Monteiro da Costa GuimarãesMarcia Marques LeiteAna Carolina Barsaglini NavegaDanilo Yamamoto NanbuCláudio SchvartsmanJoão Renato Rebello PinhoClovis Artur Almeida da SilvaHeloisa Helena de Sousa Marquesnull nullAdriana Pasmanik EisencraftAlfio RossiArtur Figueiredo DelgadoGabriela Nunes LealMaria Augusta Cicaroni GibelliPatricia PalmeiraNeusa Keico SakitaEmilly Henrique Dos SantosMussya Cisotto RochaKelly Aparecida KanunfreThelma Suely OkayMagda Maria Sales Carneiro-SampaioWerther Brunow de B CarvalhoPublished in: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Sao Paulo (2022)
This study aims to assess COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses in pediatric patients. Between April 17 and September 30, 2020, we collected 1,566 respiratory samples from 1,044 symptomatic patients who were younger than 18 years old to assess SARS-CoV-2 infection. Of these, 919 were analyzed for other respiratory pathogens (ORP). Patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 or ORP were included. We evaluated 76 pediatric COVID-19 infections and 157 other respiratory virus infections. Rhinovirus occurred in 132/157 (84%). COVID-19 patients who were significantly older, had more fevers, headaches and pneumonia than those with ORP. The median white blood cell count was lower in patients with SARS-CoV-2 than in those with ORP (6,470 versus 8,170; p=0.02). COVID-19 patients had significantly worse symptoms than those with ORP.