Title No SARS-CoV-2 carriage observed in children attending daycare centers during the intial weeks of the epidemic in Belgium.
Author Desmet, Stefanie; Ekinci, Esra; Wouters, Ine; Decru, Bram; Beuselinck, Kurt; Malhotra-Kumar, Surbhi; Theeten, Heidi
Journal J Med Virol Publication Year/Month 2021-Mar
PMID 33230857 PMCID PMC7753838
Affiliation + expend 1.KU Leuven Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Laboratory of Clinical Bacteriology and Mycology, Campus Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium.

To gain knowledge about the role of young children attending daycare in the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) epidemic, a random sample of children (n = 84) aged between 6 and 30 months attending daycare in Belgium was studied shortly after the start of the epidemic (February 29th) and before the lockdown (March 18th) by performing in-house SARS-CoV-2 real-time polymerase chain reaction. No asymptomatic carriage of SARS-CoV-2 was detected, whereas common cold symptoms were common (51.2%). Our study shows that in Belgium, there was no sign of early introduction into daycare centers at the moment children being not yet isolated at home, although the virus was clearly circulating. It is clear that more evidence is needed to understand the actual role of young children in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and their infection risk when attending daycare.

  • Copyright © 2023
    National Institute of Pathogen Biology, CAMS & PUMC, Bejing, China
    All rights reserved.