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Longitudinal Rise in Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Children in Western Germany—A Blind Spot in Epidemiology?

SARS-CoV-2 infection rates in children and adolescents are often underestimated due to asymptomatic or oligosymptomatic infections. Seroprevalence studies can reveal the magnitude of “silent” infections in this age group and help to assess the risk of infection for children but also their role in sp...

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Autores principales: Brinkmann, Folke, Diebner, Hans H., Matenar, Chantal, Schlegtendal, Anne, Spiecker, Jan, Eitner, Lynn, Timmesfeld, Nina, Maier, Christoph, Lücke, Thomas
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8629019/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34842714
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/idr13040088
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author Brinkmann, Folke
Diebner, Hans H.
Matenar, Chantal
Schlegtendal, Anne
Spiecker, Jan
Eitner, Lynn
Timmesfeld, Nina
Maier, Christoph
Lücke, Thomas
author_facet Brinkmann, Folke
Diebner, Hans H.
Matenar, Chantal
Schlegtendal, Anne
Spiecker, Jan
Eitner, Lynn
Timmesfeld, Nina
Maier, Christoph
Lücke, Thomas
author_sort Brinkmann, Folke
collection PubMed
description SARS-CoV-2 infection rates in children and adolescents are often underestimated due to asymptomatic or oligosymptomatic infections. Seroprevalence studies can reveal the magnitude of “silent” infections in this age group and help to assess the risk of infection for children but also their role in spreading the disease. In total, 2045 children and their parents from the Ruhr region were finally included after the exclusion of drop-outs. Seroconversion rates among children of all age groups increased from 0.5% to 8% during the study period and were about three to fourfold higher than the officially registered PCR-based infection rates. Only 41% recalled symptoms of infection; 59% were asymptomatic. In 51% of the infected children, at least one parent also developed SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Depending on local incidences, the rates of seroconversion rose to different levels during the study period. Although the dynamics of infection within the study cohort mirrors local incidence, the figure of SARS-CoV-2 infections in children and adolescents appears to be high. Reported contact with SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals in the same household carries a high risk of infection.
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spelling pubmed-86290192021-11-30 Longitudinal Rise in Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Children in Western Germany—A Blind Spot in Epidemiology? Brinkmann, Folke Diebner, Hans H. Matenar, Chantal Schlegtendal, Anne Spiecker, Jan Eitner, Lynn Timmesfeld, Nina Maier, Christoph Lücke, Thomas Infect Dis Rep Article SARS-CoV-2 infection rates in children and adolescents are often underestimated due to asymptomatic or oligosymptomatic infections. Seroprevalence studies can reveal the magnitude of “silent” infections in this age group and help to assess the risk of infection for children but also their role in spreading the disease. In total, 2045 children and their parents from the Ruhr region were finally included after the exclusion of drop-outs. Seroconversion rates among children of all age groups increased from 0.5% to 8% during the study period and were about three to fourfold higher than the officially registered PCR-based infection rates. Only 41% recalled symptoms of infection; 59% were asymptomatic. In 51% of the infected children, at least one parent also developed SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Depending on local incidences, the rates of seroconversion rose to different levels during the study period. Although the dynamics of infection within the study cohort mirrors local incidence, the figure of SARS-CoV-2 infections in children and adolescents appears to be high. Reported contact with SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals in the same household carries a high risk of infection. MDPI 2021-11-12 /pmc/articles/PMC8629019/ /pubmed/34842714 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/idr13040088 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Brinkmann, Folke
Diebner, Hans H.
Matenar, Chantal
Schlegtendal, Anne
Spiecker, Jan
Eitner, Lynn
Timmesfeld, Nina
Maier, Christoph
Lücke, Thomas
Longitudinal Rise in Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Children in Western Germany—A Blind Spot in Epidemiology?
title Longitudinal Rise in Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Children in Western Germany—A Blind Spot in Epidemiology?
title_full Longitudinal Rise in Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Children in Western Germany—A Blind Spot in Epidemiology?
title_fullStr Longitudinal Rise in Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Children in Western Germany—A Blind Spot in Epidemiology?
title_full_unstemmed Longitudinal Rise in Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Children in Western Germany—A Blind Spot in Epidemiology?
title_short Longitudinal Rise in Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Children in Western Germany—A Blind Spot in Epidemiology?
title_sort longitudinal rise in seroprevalence of sars-cov-2 infections in children in western germany—a blind spot in epidemiology?
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8629019/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34842714
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/idr13040088
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