The SARS-CoV-2 mutation detected in the United Kingdom last December is worrying and is the subject of much misinformation. Among other things, the fact that this new strain of the virus would be more dangerous for young children. British pediatricians deny and want to be rather reassuring.
No increased risk for children
In an interview with the BBC and the Telegraph, Laura Duffe, head nurse at King’s College Hospital in London, said children and young adults were more affected by the VIU202012 / 01 variant of SARS-CoV-2. She had seen a higher number of admissions from this segment of the population than during the first wave. This information then quickly made the rounds of the media, before being denied by the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH).
Paediatricians are not alarmists
In a press release dated January 2, 2021, the learned society wanted to put things in perspective. “In normal times, the pediatric departments of hospitals are always very busy in winter. At this time, we are not seeing significant pressure related to Covid-19 in pediatrics across the UK. As cases increase in the population, there will be a slight increase in the number of children with Covid-19, but the majority of affected children and young adults do not have symptoms or benign forms. It seems that the new variant affects all ages and so far we have not observed any greater severity in children and young people, ”said Prof. Russell Viner, President of RCPCH, which is the equivalent. British Society of the French Pediatric Society.
In the same press release, Dr Liz Whittaker, pediatrician at St Mary’s Hospital in London, is also reassuring: “many children test positive for covid but fortunately only a small number have a severe form or PIMS ( rare inflammatory disease associated with covid) and these are within expected levels, given the London rates. I continue to worry about the elderly, not the children ”. In France, the call for caution is also in order. In the columns of Le Parisien, the epidemiologist and member of the Scientific Council Arnaud Fontanet believes that it is “too early to say whether this variant has a particular tropism for young people”, nevertheless calling for “to remain vigilant”.
