SARS-CoV-2: its implications in the paediatric population

Key words: New coronavirus, Polmonitis, Clinical manifestations, Epidemiology

By the end of December 2019 there was an outbreak of polmonitis of a new coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2. Until now there have been 76,727 cases, 2,247 deaths and 18,562 healed patients in China and less than 1,200 cases in the rest of the world. Few data are available regarding the epidemiology and the clinical manifestations in the paediatric population, nonetheless the virus seems to be affecting this population way less severely than the adults. This data may be due to an understatement of children’s involvement, since they seem to have very scarce symptoms. The question that arises is: can those mildly symptomatic or asymptomatic paediatric cases infect others therefore enhancing the virus transmission?