2pc hospitalised children found with Covid-19

A new study released in a journal of Dhaka Shishu Hospital revealed that Covid-19 prevalence is abnormally high among hospitalised neonates in Bangladesh compared with other countries and that the viral infection may have been acquired by the children either from healthcare providers or caregivers.

The journal was published last week with the study that examined 1,714 children hospitalised between April and June at Dhaka Shishu Hospital in 2020.

Of the studied children, 32 or 2 per cent of overall cases were found infected with Covid-19 with 62 per cent of Covid cases from outside of the capital Dhaka.

‘Considering the overall global scenario this is a very high percentage of Covid infection among hospitalised neonates,’ Dhaka Shishu Hospital epidemiologist Kinkar Ghosh told New Age.

In China and Iran, the countries to report Covid-19 among paediatric group earlier than their peers, the incidence of Covid-19 was found to have been 1.6 per cent and 0.6 per cent among hospitalised children, respectively, said Kinkar Ghosh, also a co-author of the study.

In low-middle income countries like Bangladesh, he said, the viral disease prevalence is largely far below 1 per cent among the hospitalised children.

The study said that the disease is less common in children and rare in neonates because of their stronger immunity relative to adults but the disease’s prevalence among children apparently increased lately.

Of the 32 confirmed Covid cases, 28 children were born through C-section, only two of which were born to mothers infected with Covid-19.

Four children were born normally and none of their mothers had been infected with Covid-19, said Kinkar Ghosh.

‘Trying to understand how these children got infected, we came across two potential sources — either from hospital-associated sources or from their caregivers,’ said Kinkar Ghosh.

The study however could not carry out contract tracing the hospital or caregiver sources of infection.

A total of 21 of the infected children were male while the rest were female. The prevalence of Covid infection was found to have been higher among children with normal weight than among premature children.

Of the Covid cases, 20 were from outside Dhaka.

Two or more diseases such as sepsis, perinatal asphyxia and pneumonia were found in the infected children. 

The study recommended increased neonatal screening for the infected children largely asymptomatic could be playing an important role in community transmission.

It also said that the transmission of Covid-19 through the placenta and breast milk is yet to be identified.

Only 13 per cent of positive cases were determined within three days of the birth of children by Rt-PCR and three-fourths of the cases were confirmed in 24 hours of their birth.

About 28 per cent of the Covid cases among neonates have been confirmed between four days to a week while about 60 per cent cases were found when the children were aged between 8 days and 28 days.

Of the infected children, 14 were discharged after recovery, 12 were referred to Covid-19 hospitals and two were transferred to the corona unit of Dhaka Shishu Hospital while four died at the hospital.

News Courtesy:

https://www.newagebd.net/article/143291/2pc-hospitalised-children-found-with-covid-19