Omicron allows the SARS-CoV-2 virus to spread across the world faster than any other strain has caused. This whole situation even leads to children getting infected and developing severe illness that requires hospitalization.
According to StudyFinds.org, about half of the little ones who get hospitalized for COVID develop neurological symptoms, as researchers from the University of Pittsburg find out.
44 percent of minor COVID patients have neurological symptoms
Of those 44 percent of children, the most common neurological symptoms were headaches and acute encephalopathy, and the latter is more commonly known as “an altered mental status”.
Ericka Fink, M.D., lead author of the study, and a pediatric intensivist at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, declared as StudyFinds.org quotes:
The SARS-CoV-2 virus can affect pediatric patients in different ways: It can cause acute disease, where symptomatic illness comes on soon after infection, or children may develop an inflammatory condition called MIS-C weeks after clearing the virus,
One of the consortium’s big questions was whether neurological manifestations are similar or different in pediatric patients, depending on which of these two conditions they have.
The third most common neurological symptom for children suffering from acute COVID infection was the emergence of seizures. Other reported symptoms were psychosis, stroke, loss of smell, and vision issues.
Dr. Fink also reveals that the mortality rates among the little ones are low when it comes to both acute SARS-CoV-2 infection and MIS-C, which stands for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. The doctor further explains, as also quoted by StudyFinds.org:
But this study shows that the frequency of neurological manifestations is high—and it may actually be higher than what we found because these symptoms are not always documented in the medical record or assessable. For example, we can’t know if a baby is having a headache.