Multicentre Italian study of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children and adolescents, preliminary data as at 10 April 2020
Silvia Garazzino, Carlotta Montagnani, Daniele Donà, Antonella Meini, Enrico Felici, Gianluca Vergine, Stefania Bernardi, Roberta Giacchero, Andrea Lo Vecchio, Paola Marchisio, Giangiacomo Nicolini, Luca Pierantoni, Ivana Rabbone, Giuseppe Banderali, Marco Denina, Elisabetta Venturini, Andrzej Krzysztofiak, Raffaele Badolato, Sonia Bianchini, Luisa Galli, Alberto Villani, Guido Castelli Gattinara, the Italian SITIP-SIP Pediatric Infection Study Group
Abstract
Data on features of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in children and adolescents are scarce. We report preliminary results of an Italian multicentre study comprising 168 laboratory-confirmed paediatric cases (median: 2.3 years, range: 1 day-17.7 years, 55.9% males), of which 67.9% were hospitalised and 19.6% had comorbidities. Fever was the most common symptom, gastrointestinal manifestations were frequent; two children required intensive care, five had seizures, 49 received experimental treatments and all recovered.