UAE: Covid severity among kids depends on immune response, doctors say

Dubai - Few may develop severe inflammation of heart, lungs, kidneys, brain after recovering from Covid.

Doctors in the UAE say that while a vast majority of kids with Covid-19 don’t get sick or show only mild flu-like symptoms, a few can develop multisystem inflammatory syndrome that causes severe inflammation of the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, weeks after recovering from Covid-19.

Dr Darshan Doddaiah, Specialist Pediatrician with Prime Medical Center King Faisal Road Sharjah, opines, “Only a small percentage of children develop a disorder called multisystem inflammatory syndrome which seems likely due to intense autoimmune response.”

He adds, “studies show antibody response in kids and adults with mild Covid-19 are similar. However in kids with multi system inflammatory disorder there was raised in higher levels of IgG antibodies which in turn activated immune cells called macrophages which resulted in severe illness. On the other hand in adults with severe Covid-19, IGA antibodies were raised which interacted with neutrophils to cause cytokines storms which resulted in respiratory distress syndrome and other life threatening complications.”

Meanwhile, the jury is still out on whether children are less often infected by Covid-19. Large epidemiological studies suggest that children comprise only 1 to 2 per cent of all Covid-19 cases.

Dr Samith Alva, Specialist – Pediatrics, Aster Clinic – JLT, opines, “However, these numbers depend on testing criteria, and in many reports testing was done only in individuals who were symptomatic or required hospitalization, which is less often the case for children.”

She adds, “Covid-19 disease presentations are different based on the age group. Children have a milder disease compared to adults. Most children have mild respiratory symptoms. Children generally have fever, dry cough or a sore throat or sneeze. Some children may have gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhoea or vomiting. Occasionally children may lose a sense of smell or taste. And most children tend to have asymptomatic infection, which means they don’t have any symptoms at all.”