Novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in newborns and infants: what we know so far

Novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in newborns and infants: what we know so far

Cinzia Auriti, Iliana Bersani, Fiammetta Piersigilli, Andrea Dotta, Maria Paola Ronchetti, Alessandra Santisi, Domenico Umberto De Rose, Olivier Danhaive, The Study Group of Neonatal Infectious Diseases of The Italian Society of Neonatology (SIN)

Abstract Recently, an outbreak of viral pneumonitis in Wuhan, Hubei, China successively spread as a global pandemia, led to the identification of a novel betacoronavirus species, the 2019 novel coronavirus, successively designated 2019-nCoV then SARS-CoV-2). The SARS-CoV-2 causes a clinical syndrome designated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) with a spectrum of manifestations ranging from mild upper respiratory tract infection to severe pneumonitis, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and death. Few cases have been observed in children and adolescents who seem to have a more favorable clinical course than other age groups, and even fewer in newborn babies. This review provides an overview of the knowledge on SARS-CoV-2 epidemiology, transmission, the associated clinical presentation and outcomes in newborns and infants up to 6 months of life.

2020

infants, newborns, coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19

DOI: 10.1186/s13052-020-0820-x

Italian Journal of Pediatrics

BMC

Pediatrics