{"id":546,"date":"2020-05-09T13:46:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-09T13:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/?p=546"},"modified":"2020-11-09T13:49:33","modified_gmt":"2020-11-09T13:49:33","slug":"why-arent-children-as-severely-affected-by-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/?p=546","title":{"rendered":"Why aren\u2019t children as severely affected by COVID-19?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Question: <\/strong>Why aren\u2019t children as severely affected by COVID-19? If it\u2019s about an adaptable immune system, would someone whose immune system has been exposed to lots of new things for their life have a similarly adaptable immune system? Or does it just not work that way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Answer: <\/strong>The short answer is that we still don\u2019t know. Here\u2019s a quick run-down of what we current know (to my knowledge!). First,\u00a0preliminary evidence shows<\/a>\u00a0that\u00a0children are are less likely<\/a>\u00a0to be symptomatic or to develop severe symptoms as compared with adults (yay!). The\u00a0preliminary evidence is, however, mixed<\/a>\u00a0when it comes to three other important issues: 1) whether children are just as likely as adults to become infected SARS-Cov-2; 2) whether children are just as likely as adults to transmit the virus; and 3) why children are less likely to be symptomatic or develop severe symptoms. As you\u2019ll so often read in scientific publications, more research is needed. Even so, we can partially answer your question by exploring the hypotheses scientists have about why children are less likely to be symptomatic or develop severe symptoms. At this stage of our understanding, it seems like children\u2019s highly adaptive immune systems are protecting them. In this case, it\u2019s actually their lack of exposure to other viruses and infections that\u2019s helping them (their immune systems aren\u2019t stuck in old ways of doing things)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n