Iran Press/ Europe: The NHS (United Kingdom National Health Service) lists three symptoms as signs of COVID-19 in adults and children: a high temperature, a new, continuous cough, and a loss or change in the sense of smell or taste.
However, the team behind the COVID symptom study app says new data shows that the disease presents differently in children compared with adults.
“We need to start to telling people what are the key symptoms at different ages rather than this blanket obsession with fever, cough, and lack of smell,” said Prof Tim Spector, of King’s College London, who led the work.
The team’s latest findings are based on reports of symptoms among 198 children who tested positive for the disease out of almost 16,000 tested. Crucially, the team note, parents could have tested their children at the same time as they themselves took a test, meaning the children could have been tested even if they had no symptoms.
While a third of the children who tested positive showed no symptoms – adding weight to other work showing many infections are asymptomatic – the team says those who did show a different set of symptoms than adults.
COVID symptoms: Diarrhoea and vomiting may be a key sign of coronavirus in children – study
More than half of the COVID-positive children with symptoms – 55% – had fatigue, while 54% had a headache and almost half had a fever. Sore throats were present in around 38% of the children with symptoms, while almost 35% skipped meals, 15% had an unusual skin rash and 13% had diarrhea.
The global death toll is 1,154,862 with 42,946,446 confirmed cases.
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