So far, the risk of a severe corona course has been considered low for children.
Now there is uncertainty as to whether the mutant B 1.1.7 could endanger this security.
Munich / Würzburg - The coronavirus has kept doctors and virologists on their toes for over a year.
The research is in full swing.
But one thing was certain to date: children are much less likely to get Corona.
And if so, then with a much milder course.
According to the Robert Koch Institute * (RKI), around 2070 children under five and 3400 children between the ages of five and fourteen had Covid per 100,000 inhabitants in Germany by mid-February 2021.
And the previous outbreaks of disease in the smaller ones have mostly been mild.
RKI: "Incidence among under 15-year-olds is increasing sharply" - connection with Kita Corona outbreaks likely
The British virus mutation B 1.1.7, which is becoming increasingly rampant in Germany, is of concern in this regard.
The spread could change the previous situation for children.
Because: "The incidence * among under 15-year-olds is increasing sharply," as RKI President Lothar Wieler reported in a press conference with Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU).
According to Wieler, it cannot be ruled out that the corona mutation B 1.1.7 is directly related to outbreaks in daycare centers.
Corona in Bavaria and Germany: Currently no inpatient corona patient in the Hauner Children's Hospital in Munich
Since the increased spread of the B 1.1.7 mutation * in Munich, however, Privatdozent Dr.
Florian Hoffmann, pediatric intensive care and emergency physician at the Hauner Children's Hospital of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich (LMU) and Secretary General of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (DIVI), have not yet noticed any increase in the number of pediatric patients to be treated clinically.
“It doesn't look any different in the other children's clinics in Munich,” he says, as the medical director of the Munich children's emergency medical service, in an interview with
Merkur.de
.
At the moment, there are “no Covid children's patients to be treated as inpatients” at the LMU Clinic, as the expert reports in an interview.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, “about ten children have been treated as inpatients for Corona, three of them in the intensive care unit.
All of them survived ", says the senior physician and adds:" That is still a rarity when you consider that the mortality rate in intensive care adult Covid patients is 20-30 percent. "
+
Privatdozent Dr.
Florian Hoffmann is a senior physician in the pediatric intensive care unit at the Munich Hauner Children's Hospital (LMU).
© University of Munich Clinic
Johannes Liese is head of the pediatric infectious disease and immunology department at the Würzburg University Hospital.
The doctor is currently researching the infection process in day-care centers.
The research results have not yet been precisely determined at this point in time.
According to
focus.de
, he says: “So far, the virus has spared the daycare population.” But more and more children with corona are being treated in the Würzburg University Hospital.
He suspected a connection with the mutation spread *.
Because of the British Corona mutation in Munich: Pediatrician: "Immediate total shutdown unavoidable"
A specialty of Corona * processes in children is the so-called PIMS syndrome.
“Some children get this a few weeks after surviving a corona infection.
The syndrome is associated with a very high fever, cardiovascular problems and skin rash, ”explains Hoffmann in an interview with M
Erkur.de
.
“We have had four such patients so far at the Hauner Children's Hospital.
Fortunately, nobody died. ”Nonetheless, the intensive care doctor considers an“ immediate, total shutdown * inevitable ”.
“Better yesterday than tomorrow.
Schools and daycare centers will unfortunately also come into focus again. ”Because:“ The fact that children have not had any difficult courses so far is reassuring, but current figures also show a significant increase in the number of infections with B1.1.7 in patients under 15 years of age, ”says so Hoffmann.
In addition, the assumption “that children are not carriers of the virus is absolute cheese,” emphasizes the intensive care doctor.
He is certain that the British mutation will soon “have almost completely displaced the original variant in Munich.” He says: “On average, this mutation is 40 percent more contagious.
Of course, there will then also be more children who will be infected with Corona and who will transmit the virus *. ”In this context, the doctor also draws attention to the recent Corona outbreak in a kindergarten in Schrozberg * (Schwäbisch Hall district).
As a result of the infections within the kindergarten, the community has mutated into one of the places in Germany most heavily affected by Corona.
The seven-day incidence soared to over 1000 within a few days (as of March 17).
Munich: The problem of the shortage of children's intensive care beds has been coming to a head for years
With regard to the intensive children's beds in the Bavarian state capital *, he says: “With a view to Corona, the situation is no more precarious than before.” However, he would like to draw attention to the fact that “the situation had been around for years before the outbreak of the pandemic * The scarcity of intensive care beds for children has come to a head.
The problem is with and without Covid *. ”However, it is reassuring that fewer intensive care beds were needed in winter 2020/2021.
“This is due to the distance and hygiene measures *.
For example, we had fewer patients with the RS virus than usual in the cold season. "
Children with trisomy 21 as corona risk patients?
- "Scientifically controversial"
Both Markus Knuf, director of the clinic for children and adolescents at Helios Dr.
Horst Schmidt Klinik in Wiesbaden and board member of the DGPI, as well as Johannes Liese would
regret,
according to
focus.de
, that there is still no Covid vaccination * for children.
"We have
large groups of actual risk patients among the children, premature babies, for example, or children with trisomy 21, ”says Knuf.
There would be zero prevention offers for these children.
“I find that almost scandalous!” Says the Knuf.
With regard to risk groups, Florian Hoffmann draws attention to the fact that scientifically “it is still controversial whether children with trisomy 21 even form a Covid risk group”.
He reports: “At the beginning of the pandemic, I feared that oncological children, for example, would be at high risk for a severe coronavirus.
Fortunately, even that has not been confirmed so far. "
Corona vaccination for children: "naturally desirable in the long term"
On the subject of child vaccination, the Munich pediatrician says clearly: “We haven't even vaccinated all of the people who belong to priority 1 *.
But know that people over 60 are exposed to a significantly high risk of a severe course. "Hoffmann calls it" naturally desirable in the long term "to have a vaccine against the coronavirus available for children.
However, he also knows: “It can take a few years.
It is a sensation anyway that several adult vaccines have been developed in less than a year.
This has never happened before anywhere in the world. ”Nobody should be reproached for the fact that there is currently no vaccine for children.
In this regard, Hoffmann also raises concerns: "We now know that children - with very few exceptions - are spared from a severe Covid course *, but we do not yet know what side effects a potential vaccine could have."
(Feb)
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