[Clinical features of coronavirus disease 2019 in children aged <18 years in Jiangxi, China: an analysis of 23 cases].

Wu, Hua-Ping; Li, Bing-Fei; Chen, Xiao; Hu, Hua-Zhu; Jiang, Shu-Ai; Cheng, Hao; Hu, Xin-He; Tang, Jian-Xin; Zhong, Fu-Chu; Zeng, Ling-Wen; Yu, Wei; Yuan, Yan; Wu, Xian-Fei; Li, Yu-Ping; Zheng, Zong-Li; Pan, Tian-Bo; Wu, Zhi-Xing; Yuan, Jin-Feng; Chen, Qiang

OBJECTIVE To study the clinical features of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in children aged <18 years. METHODS A retrospective analysis was performed from the medical data of 23 children, aged from 3 months to 17 years and 8 months, who were diagnosed with COVID-19 in Jiangxi, China from January 21 to February 29, 2020. RESULTS Of the 23 children with COVID-19, 17 had family aggregation. Three children (13%) had asymptomatic infection, 6 (26%) had mild type, and 14 (61%) had common type. Among these 23 children, 16 (70%) had fever, 11 (48%) had cough, 8 (35%) had fever and cough, and 8 (35%) had wet rales in the lungs. The period from disease onset or the first nucleic acid-positive detection of SARS-CoV-2 to the virus nucleic acid negative conversion was 6-24 days (median 12 days). Of the 23 children, 3 had a reduction in total leukocyte count, 2 had a reduction in lymphocytes, 2 had an increase in C-reactive protein, and 2 had an increase in D-dimer. Abnormal pulmonary CT findings were observed in 12 children, among whom 9 had patchy ground-glass opacities in both lungs. All 23 children received antiviral therapy and were recovered. CONCLUSIONS COVID-19 in children aged <18 years often occurs with family aggregation, with no specific clinical manifestation and laboratory examination results. Most of these children have mild symptoms and a good prognosis. Epidemiological history is of particular importance in the diagnosis of COVID-19 in children aged <18 years.