Dados do Trabalho

Título

SARS-Cov-2 in children and adolescents in the metropolitan region of ABC São Paulo-Brazil

Introdução

The coronavirus  disease (COVID19), caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome-2) virus, resulted in a pandemic , and exposed to the world the fragility of health systems in relation to new infectious diseases, including prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Despite this, the rapid development of vaccines against the virus. In the adult population, vaccination reduced the severity of infections and deaths, but did not prevent the circulation of the virus and the child population, whose vaccination began approximately one year later. The child population has therefore become a risk group, both for transmission of the virus and for greater morbidity and risk of death from COVID-19. Testing children is difficult because they need to collect oropharyngeal and nasal secretions, which is invasive and requires a healthcare professional. The development of a diagnostic method for this group is, therefore, essential.

Objetivo (s)

 Make a molecular test for SARS-CoV-2, the gold standard, available to children and adolescents.

Material e Métodos

RTqPCR tests for SARS-CoV-2 were carried out using the saliva of children and adolescents linked to the UFABC community and a non-governmental organization in the third sector that works with children and adolescents, who agreed to participate in the study with authorization from their parents, and signing the free and informed consent form. Saliva collection was carried out according to the kit developed by our research group, by those parents or by the child or adolescent themselves, using  self-collected saliva in hydrophilic cotton. The population participating in the study also answered an epidemiological questionnaire for correlation studies.

Resultados e Conclusão

Over 43 weeks, 1,134 tests were carried out on children and adolescents in the UFABC community, of which 6.34% were positive for the virus, while of 2,082 tests on the non-governmental organization population, 2.25% were positive. Correlation studies between the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2, including those parents, reported symptoms and demographic data, demonstrated a positive correlation between the infection curves of the child population when compared with the infection in adults who lived in the same household. The infection curves of the child population from UFABC and the non-governmental organization show a similar pattern of curves over time. Furthermore, a negative correlation was found between the vaccinated population, SARS-CoV-2 infection and the occurrence of symptoms.  

Palavras Chave

SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; monitoring; Children