<scp>COVID</scp>‐19 in children. <scp>II</scp>: Pathogenesis, disease spectrum and management
Annaleise R. Howard‐Jones, David Burgner, Nigel W. Crawford, Emma Goeman, Paul Gray, Peter Hsu, Stephanie Kuek, Brendan McMullan, Shidan Tosif, Danielle Wurzel, Asha C Bowen, Margie Danchin, Archana Koirala, Ketaki Sharma, Daniel K. Yeoh, Philip N Britton
Abstract
The global disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the life of every child either directly or indirectly. This review explores the pathophysiology, immune response, clinical presentation and treatment of COVID-19 in children, summarising the most up-to-date data including recent developments regarding variants of concern. The acute infection with SARS-CoV-2 is generally mild in children, whilst the post-infectious manifestations, including paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2 (PIMS-TS) and 'long COVID' in children, are more complex. Given that most research on COVID-19 has focused on adult cohorts and that clinical manifestations, treatment availability and impacts differ markedly in children, research that specifically examines COVID-19 in children needs to be prioritised.