COVID-19 in Children a Descriptive Study at the Security Forces Hospital (SFH)-AL Riyadh-Saudi Arabia
Elsharif A. Bazie *
Department of Emergency-SFH, Saudi Arabia.
Abdulkarim Alanazi
Department of Pediatrics Emergency Fellow-SFH, Saudi Arabia.
Wejdan Hamed Abdullah Alshammari
Department of Pediatrics-SFH, Saudi Arabia.
Fahad Mishal Alharbi
Department of Emergency Medicine-SFH, Saudi Arabia.
Faisal Ahmed Alghamdi
Department at Emergency-King Fahad Medical City, Saudi Arabia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Coronaviruses (CoV) are RNA respiratory viruses that present with a wide range of symptomatology which range from common cold to severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). In December 2019 a new strain was discovered in China named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), named “COVID-19” by World Health Organization (WHO).
Objective: To study the prevalence and clinical presentation of COVID-19 among children attended pediatrics emergency department.
Result: from 1st March to 30th of June 2020. During the study period, a total of 223 patients with age between 16 days and 12 years were diagnosed as positive COVID-19. Male were 52%. Fever was found in 39.9%, cough in 14.3%, and diarrhea in 3.6%.
Conclusion: our study gives a clue to the clinical presentation of COVID-19 in pediatric populations.
Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV, children, Saudi Arabia