A newborn baby diagnosed with COVID-19 in Washington, DC, was found to have at least 51,000 times more viral particles than other young patients diagnosed with the deadly virus.
What are the details?
According to a report by the Washington Post on Wednesday, experts could not determine why the nameless child – who was born in September and recovered afterwards – had such a high virus load, but later determined that the infection was a new coronavirus variant is, several other matters.
According to the Post, the child was born ‘very ill’.
“Most infected children show rare symptoms, and even those admitted to the hospital tend to have mild cases,” the store said.
On Thursday, Insider reported that it is not clear whether this particular variant is more dangerous to children, but pointed out that the structure could make it more contagious when compared to other strains.
“It’s not clear how common or risky this new variant can be,” Insider noted. “The database found eight other cases of this variant in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region, according to a pre-print study, not yet evaluated by peers, on coronavirus variations in children.”
The outlet noted that the variety’s characteristic type of protein structure of the vein ‘can make it more contagious.’
“It is not clear whether this new variant explains the large number of viral particles in the baby’s nose,” the outlet added.
“It could be a complete coincidence,” Roberta DeBiasi, head of infectious diseases at Children’s National Hospital, told the Post in a statement. “But the association is pretty strong. If you see a patient who has exponentially more virus and it’s a very different variant, it’s probably related.”
DeBiasi added that she could not deduce anything about the mutation from just one case, but the Post reports that researchers have found evidence that a “variant with a mutation called N679S can circulate in the Mid-Atlantic region.”
What else?
The Post reports that as of February 11, more than 3 million American children have tested positive for the virus since the onset of the pandemic.
“The biggest upswing has taken place since mid-November, when cases increased every week at a rate of 100,000 to 200,000.” “But the country’s poor genomic order has focused almost exclusively on adults.”
Harvard researcher Adrienne Randolph said it was necessary to expand order.
” A few hospitals say that their cases are more serious in children does not mean that it is a problem at the national level, ” she explained. “But we need to investigate. With new variants, it could be that some of these children are infected with them.”
Alan Beggs, who is a genomics expert at Boston Children’s Hospital, said the overall ‘message from home’ is that the country is “doing poorly in identifying worrying changes in the developing virus.”
“It’s just more evidence that needs to change,” Beggs added.