Diagnostics of a new coronavirus infection in children admitted to a multidisciplinary hospital
Authors:   Central Research Institute of Epidemiology, Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, Moscow, Russian Federation, Nikolaeva S.V. , Feklisova L.V. ,   M.F.Vladimirsky Moscow Regional Research Clinical Institute, Moscow, Russian Federation, Ponezheva Zh.B. ,   Central Research Institute of Epidemiology, Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, Moscow, Russian Federation, Belyaeva T.Yu. ,   M.F.Vladimirsky Moscow Regional Research Clinical Institute, Moscow, Russian Federation, Titova T.V. ,   M.F.Vladimirsky Moscow Regional Research Clinical Institute, Moscow, Russian Federation, Khadisova M.K. ,   M.F.Vladimirsky Moscow Regional Research Clinical Institute, Moscow, Russian Federation, Gorelov A.V. ,   Central Research Institute of Epidemiology, Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, Moscow, Russian Federation,   I.M.Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), Moscow, Russian Federation
Published: March 2022

The second decade of the 21st century started with the emergence of a new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, affecting humans and causing COVID-19 infection. Children usually have mild disease with one-third of them being asymptomatic, which hinders diagnostics of this infection and does not prevent hospitalization of infected children with non-respiratory disorders to hospitals. Objective. To assess the incidence and specific characteristics of COVID-19 among children emergently admitted to a multidisciplinary hospital not intended for hospitalization of patients with COVID-19. Patients and methods. We performed retrospective analysis of medical records of children admitted to different departments of a multidisciplinary hospital in Moscow between 20.03.2020 and 20.07.2020 (9,779 were discharged during this period). Results. A total of 64 children aged 1 month to 17 years admitted to 10 different departments had positive PCR results for COVID-19 (nasal/oropharyngeal swabs) upon admission to hospital. Fifteen patients (23.4%) had asymptomatic coronavirus infection. These were primarily children of school age and less often of preschool age admitted to the Departments of Traumatology, Surgery with injuries, fractures, exacerbation of chronic nephrological or abdominal disorders. Twenty-four participants (37.5%) presented with mild or none catarrhal symptoms, whereas 12 children were diagnosed with pneumonia. The highest number of SARS-CoV-2-positive children (n = 30; 46.9%) were admitted to the Department of Infectious Diseases, as could be expected. Conclusion. Our findings suggest that, in general, the current situation reflects our knowledge about COVID-19. Children usually have mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 and play a significant role in virus transmission, contributing to the continuation of the pandemic. Our results have high clinical and epidemiological significance and require further investigations among children of different ages to accumulate the data. Key words: children, SARS-CoV-2