Prolonged presence of SARS‐CoV‐2 in pediatric patients
Prolonged presence of SARS‐CoV‐2 in pediatric patients. Heneghan C.
https://www.cebm.net/study/prolonged-presence-of-sars%e2%80%90cov%e2%80%902-in-pediatric-patients/
Published on July 30, 2020
Included in
Transmission Dynamics of COVID-19
| Reference |
Xing Y, Wei N, Qin W et al Prolonged presence of SARS‐CoV‐2 in feces of pediatric patients during the convalescent phase. medRxiv 2020. 10.1101/2020.03.11.20033159 |
| Study type |
|
| Country |
China |
| Setting |
Paediatric Hospital |
| Funding Details |
This study was funded by The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [Grant number 81770315]; and Distinguished Taishan Scholars (2019). |
| Transmission mode |
Orofecal |
| Exposures |
|
Bottom Line
Three children showed a prolonged presence of SARS‐CoV‐2 in feces after throat swabs were negative.
Evidence Summary
One case had fecal SARS-CoV-2 turned negative 8 days after throat swabs were negative, another child lagged behind for 20 days. At the time of publication, one child still had positive results for RT-PCR analysis in stools after negative conversion of viral RNA in respiratory samples (over 19 days behind).
What did they do?
From January 17, 2020, to March 6, 2020, three pediatric cases of COVID-19 were reported in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China.
Real-time fluorescence reverse-transcriptase-polymerase-chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA in throat swabs and fecal specimens.
Study reliability
| Clearly defined setting |
Demographic characteristics described |
Follow-up length was sufficient |
Transmission outcomes assessed |
Main biases are taken into consideration |
|
Yes |
Partly |
Partly |
Yes
|
Yes |
What else should I consider?
About the authors
Carl Heneghan
Carl is Professor of EBM & Director of CEBM at the University of Oxford. He is also a GP and tweets @carlheneghan. He has an active interest in discovering the truth behind health research findings
