A Study on Children With COVID-19 Admitted at Assiut University Children Hospital

In December 2019, reports emerged of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan, China, culminating in the identification of a novel coronavirus on 12 January 2020, denoted as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2), and the associated disease as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (1). Some cases of infection in children have also been reported (2) the symptoms of pediatric COVID-19 are mild, the decrease in lymphocytes is not obvious and severe cases are rare. Initially, children comprised between 1% and 2% of the laboratory-confirmed SARSCoV-2 detections among people in China (3), Italy (4), and the United States (5). Initial reports from (CDC) noted the following age distributions: 15-17 years (32%), 10-14 years (27%), 5-9 years (15%), 1-4 years (11%), and \<1 year (15%), with a median age of 11 years (5). Diagnosis of COVID-19 will depend on the clinical presentation of the case and on laboratory test as well as radiological finding. The cases will be stratified according to these collective data to different grades of severity (6). Investigations for suspected case: CBC and radiology, to confirm diagnosis: Nasopharyngeal swab for PCR and to assess severity: Serum ferritin, D dimer, LDH, and CRP. (7) Current treatment for COVID-19 is mainly supportive care (8).The decision of the site of management either at home or in hospital depends on the clinical presentation, requirement for supportive care, potential risk factors for severe disease, and the ability of the patient to self-isolate at home(9) (10).