Novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in newborns and infants: what we know so far
The Study Group of Neonatal Infectious Diseases of The Italian Society of Neonatology (SIN), Domenico Umberto De Rose, Fiammetta Piersigilli, Maria Paola Ronchetti, Alessandra Santisi, Iliana Bersani, Andrea Dotta, Olivier Danhaive, Cinzia Auriti
Abstract
Recently, an outbreak of viral pneumonitis in Wuhan, Hubei, China successively spread as a global pandemia, led to the identification of a novel betacoronavirus species, the 2019 novel coronavirus, successively designated 2019-nCoV then SARS-CoV-2). The SARS-CoV-2 causes a clinical syndrome designated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) with a spectrum of manifestations ranging from mild upper respiratory tract infection to severe pneumonitis, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and death. Few cases have been observed in children and adolescents who seem to have a more favorable clinical course than other age groups, and even fewer in newborn babies. This review provides an overview of the knowledge on SARS-CoV-2 epidemiology, transmission, the associated clinical presentation and outcomes in newborns and infants up to 6 months of life.