Medical & Clinical Reviews

COVID-19 vs. Children: A Discussion of the Potential Factors Causing the Decreased Mortality in the Infected Children

Abstract

Background: In this paper we will discuss the recent global pandemic, the COVID19 comparing between its effect on both adults and children and review the relation between its occurrence and two previous pandemics caused by a corona family virus in 2003 and 2013.

Method: we can divide the topic into two parts, the first part we talked about reasons that make children less symptomatic. First, the virus requires a special type of receptors on the surface of cells in the body known as ACE-2 cells, another aspect is the viral load, and finally, the cytokine storm.

In the second part we discussed the relation between this new virus and the two previous pandemics the SARS (sever acute respiratory syndrome) in 2003 and the MERS (middle east respiratory syndrome) in 2013 to reach to our point of the new reason that make children less affected from this new virus.

Noting that we are analyzing the link between the previous pandemics and the current one regarding the number of reported cases in each country, and not the number of deaths or recovered cases.

Result: Because of these two past exposures of coronavirus, adults who were exposed to this past coronavirus created memory antibodies against it. The new idea suggests that these antibodies which were formed, in many times they are not exactly matched to the new coronavirus and that can affect negatively, so these antibodies instead of helping the body defend against this new virus, they damage it.

Conclusion: That suggests the idea that children who were not born during that time, and therefor were not exposed to the viruses nor formed antibodies against it and therefore cytokine storm, developed considerably less severe symptoms or, in some cases, no symptoms.

Author(s):

Sandra Abboud and Sarah Kassem

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