[Clinical, laboratory and radiological characteristics of pediatric patients hospitalized with COVID-19: case series].

Nuñez-Paucar, Héctor; Candela-Herrera, Jorge L; Aranda-Paniora, Franklin; Huby-Muñoz, Cynthia L; Coll-Vela, Liz E De; Bernal-Mancilla, Raúl R; Zamudio-Aquise, Mariela K; Schult-Montoya, Sandra C

Children represent 1 to 5% of the entire SARS-CoV-2 infected population, and it is challenging to identify them based on clinical characteristics. We present 5 cases of pediatric patients diagnosed with COVID-19; the age range was from 1 to 14 years. They had different clinical characteristics, three of them presented fever, cough and respiratory distress, another one fever and dermatosis, and the other patient had diarrhea and vomiting associated with Guillain-Barre syndrome. Laboratory tests revealed elevated lactate dehydrogenase, D-dimer, and ferritin. The most frequent radiological pattern was perihilar peribronchial thickening. All cases had favorable clinical and radiological evolution. Diverse clinical characteristics should be considered for early diagnosis of COVID-19 in children.