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| - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of pediatric patients with Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). METHODS: Pediatric patients diagnosed with COVID-19 from January 15 to March 15, 2020, from seven hospitals in Zhejiang Province were collected retrospectively and analyzed. RESULTS: Thirty-two children with COVID-19, ranging from 3 months to 18 years old, were enrolled. Family aggregation occurred in 87.5% of infant and preschool-aged children (7/8), and also school-aged children (14/16), but only 12.5% (1/8) of adolescents (p<0. 05, p<0.001). Most of these patients had mild symptoms, mainly fever (20/32), followed by cough (10/32) and fatigue (4/32). The average duration of viral RNA in respiratory samples and gastrointestinal samples were 15.8 d and 28.9 d, respectively. Detox duration in feces decreased with age, namely 39.8 d, 27.5 d and 20.4 d in infant and preschool children, school children and adolescents respectively (p(0-6, -18)<0. 01, p(0-6, -14)<0. 05). Pneumonia was found in 14 children, without any statistical significance in the incidence of pneumonia between different age groups. Thirty patients were treated with antiviral drugs and all patients were stable and gradually improved after admission. CONCLUSIONS: Most children with COVID-19 had a mild process and good prognosis. More attention should be paid to household contact history investigation in the diagnosis of COVID-19 in young children. Viral RNA lasts longer in gastrointestinal system than the respiratory tract, especially in younger children.
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