Pulmonary manifestations and radiological findings of SarsCov2 in children

Abstract

Acute respiratory infections are a cause of high morbidity and mortality worldwide. The novel Coronavirus discovered in Wuhan, China in 2019 is of worldwide interest due to the different clinical manifestations that can appear in children. Our main objective is to review the manifestations of COVID-19 in the respiratory system and the radiological findings in pediatrics. It is estimated that only 5.7% of children have been hospitalized, with children with comorbidities and under 1 year of age being at greater risk of severe disease. Globally, the median age of presentation of cases is around 7 years, with more cases being detected at older ages, but with severity inversely proportional to age. The asymptomatic or mild form of disease are the most common presentations reported in children, being up to 90% of infected children. Laboratory studies can be normal or present abnormal leucocytes in 69.2% of the cases. At a radiological level, it has been observed that 69% of the children present with bilateral ground-glass opacities. At this time, in any acute respiratory infection COVID-19 must be excluded in order to avoid future complications in the patient.