Australian children are avoiding the deadly coronavirus thanks to their robust immune systems and healthy, young lungs, experts said.
In news likely to be welcomed my thousands of parents, youngsters are showing remarkably mild symptoms of the disease – making up less than 1 per cent of cases.
The killer strain of the coronavirus has killed more than 3,100 people worldwide, and infected 41 people in Australia – only one of which is a child.
But children’s immune systems are strong, with their young lungs not yet impacted by pollutants or smoking, and usually having no underlying health conditions.
This means if they get the virus, they are unlikely to get sick from it – and are likely to show no symptoms at all.
Health authorities confirmed children are proving able to battle the coronavirus far easier than adults, and are displaying much milder symptoms (stock image)
Young tourists wear medical masks in Rome, Italy (pictured) during the coronavirus outbreak
It is the same with other infectious diseases, such as chickenpox or measles, where the older a person is, the more severe the illness.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the news would serve as an ‘important reassurance’ to families.
‘One of the very important reassurances for families is about on the evidence we have of limited transmissibility to children,’ he said.
‘Which is very important for families and parents, and then the mild impact on those children on the evidence across the globe.’
A new case in Victoria on Wednesday brought the number of infected in Australia to 41
WHAT SYMPTOMS DO KIDS GET?
Chinese doctors report infected children often have a cough, nasal congestion, runny nose, diarrhoea and a headache.
But less than half of the children have a fever, and many have no symptoms at all.
Of the children and teenagers who have contracted COVID-19 in China, the majority had mild infections and recovered within a fortnight.
Even infants had only mild infections.
Now officially known as COVID-19, the virus has infected more than 90,000 people worldwide.
But of the approximately 44,000 cases in China, the disease’s epicentre, less than 1 per cent are children aged nine or younger.
While more than 3,100 people have died, this includes no children.
‘One of the most recognized consequences of aging is a decline in immune function,’ researcher published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation found.
‘While elderly individuals are by no means immunodeficient, they often do not respond efficiently to novel or previously encountered antigens.
Minister for Health Greg Hunt (pictured, left) and Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy (right) said children at a lower risk of suffering badly with the virus
‘This is illustrated by increased vulnerability of individuals 70 years of age and older to influenza.’
Children are also displaying much milder symptoms, such as a runny nose or cough.
‘I thank the evidence around the world is that when children are infected, they are incredibly mild, in fact so mild that they almost don’t have symptoms,’ Australia’s chief health officer, Brendan Murphy, said.
‘The only child we have had in Australia infected matched that criteria.
‘We are not entirely sure the extent to which they get the virus, but we do know that symptomatic significant disease is not a feature and we have been very little evidence of a significant problem in children.
South Korean soldiers in protective gear spray disinfectant at a railway station in Daegu in the country’s south on Saturday (pictured)
‘And that is quite different from flu where we often have some quite sick children. So that is a good positive message.’
Proofessor Robert Booy from the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance added: ‘Those children who did contract the virus overseas have only had mild symptoms such as fever and upper respiratory symptoms,’ he said.
‘In adults, they are reacting quite violently because perhaps they have seen a previous coronavirus infection and that’s set up the immune system to react inappropriately and excessively.’
A similar phenomenon was evident during the SARS outbreak in 2002.
Passengers (pictured) wear protective face masks at Brisbane International Airport in January, as the coronavirus threatens to sweep across Australia
Even in the epicentre of the virus outbreak in Wuhan, China (pictured) a small number of children are getting the disease – and none have yet died from it
No children or teenagers died from the disease, which also originated in China, and had far lower infection rates.
‘One of the interesting things about this virus is the very small number of children that appear to have been infected, certainly in the Chinese experience,’ Mr Murphy added.
‘Now, that either means that children aren’t particularly susceptible, or that if they are, they’re getting such mild disease that it’s not been detected.
‘Whatever the reason is, that’s a good thing, and we haven’t seen a lot of evidence of severe infection to any significant extent in children.’
Only one child has contracted the virus in Australia, and has shown remarkably mild symptoms (stock image)
Researchers at the Multinational Influenza Seasonal Mortality Study (MISMS) found there could be numerous reasons why children are avoiding getting the illness.
They found that a large number of cases are being found in people who travel internationally, which are more likely to be adults rather than children.
But more importantly, the severity of the virus is associated with the presence of chronic conditions – which are more prevalent in adults.
A detailed analysis by experts at MISMS found that even in one Chinese household where five members of the same family contracted coronavirus in Wuhan, a 10-year-old in the same family has remained asymptomatic.
The coronavirus (pictured) has infected 41 people in Australia to date and more than 92,000 worldwide
But experts at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention warned that, as with other respiratory illnesses, certain populations of children may be at increased risk of severe infection.
This includes youngsters with underlying health conditions.
Researchers in the virus’ epicentre in Wuhan suggested the virus cannot pass from pregnant women to fetuses.
The study, published in the Lancet, evaluated nine pregnant women who had coronavirus.
All of the women were in their third trimester and gave birth via cesarean section – but none passed the virus to their child.
Scientists took samples of amniotic fluid, cord blood, breast milk, and neonatal throat swabs, and all were found to contain no trace of the virus.
CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA CLIMB TO 41
NEW SOUTH WALES: 15
January 25
Three men aged 43, 53, and 35 who had recently travelled to China contracted the disease.
Two flew in from Wuhan while the other arrived in Sydney from Shenzhen, south China.
They were treated in isolation at Westmead Hospital.
January 27
A 21-year-old woman is identified as the fourth person to test positive for the illness in NSW.
The woman, a student at UNSW, flew into Sydney International Airport on flight MU749 on January 23 and presented to the emergency department 24 hours later after developing flu-like symptoms.
March 1
A man in his 40s is confirmed as the fifth coronavirus case in the state and a woman in her 50s as the sixth. Both returned to Sydney from Iran.
March 2
The 41-year-old sister of a man who had returned from Iran with the disease was one of three confirmed cases. The second locally-acquired case was a 53-year-old male health worker who hadn’t travelled for many months.
The other new case is a 31-year-old man who flew into Sydney on Saturday from Iran and developed symptoms 24 hours later.
March 3
Six more cases are confirmed in NSW. They included a 39-year-old man who had flown in from Iran and a 53-year-old man who arrived from Singapore last Friday.
Two women aged in their 60s who arrived in Sydney from South Korea and Japan respectively were also confirmed.
A man in his 30s who returned from Malaysia to Sydney on Malindo Air flight OD171 on March 1 was also confirmed infected.
A 50-year-old woman is diagnosed with coronavirus. The woman is a carer at a nursing home in Macquarie Park in Sydney’s north. She had not been overseas and contracted the virus in Australia.
VICTORIA: 10
January 25
A Chinese national aged in his 50s becomes the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in Australia.
The man flew to Melbourne on China Southern flight CZ321 from Wuhan via Guangzhou on January 19.
He was quarantined at Monash Hospital in Clayton in Melbourne’s east.
January 29
A Victorian man in his 60s is diagnosed with the coronavirus.
He became unwell on January 23 – two days after returning from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.
The man was confirmed as positive on January 29 and was subsequently seen by doctors at the Monash Medical Centre.
January 30
A woman in her 40s is found to have coronavirus.
She was visiting from China and mostly spent time with her family.
She is being treated at Royal Melbourne Hospital.
February 1
A woman in her 20s in Melbourne is found to have the virus.
February 22
Two passengers taken off the Diamond Princess cruise ship test positive.
February 25
Another passenger taken off the cruise ship tests positive.
March 1
Victorian man confirmed to have coronavirus after the 78-year-old was evacuated to Melbourne from a Darwin quarantine centre.
It is confirmed a Victorian woman in her 30s has tested positive for coronavirus after flying from Malaysia to Melbourne via Indonesia.
March 4
Victorian man in his 30s confirmed to have coronavirus after returning from Iran. Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said the man was ‘almost symptom-free’ after self-isolating
QUEENSLAND: 10
January 29
Queensland confirms its first case after a 44-year-old Chinese national was diagnosed with the virus. He is being treated at Gold Coast University Hospital.
January 30
A 42-year-old Chinese woman who was travelling in the same Wuhan tour group as the 44-year-old man tests positive. She is in Gold Coast University Hospital in stable condition.
February 4
An eight-year-old boy was diagnosed with coronavirus. He is also from the tour group where the other Queensland cases came from.
February 5
A 37-year-old man, who was a member of a group of nine Chinese tourists in quarantine on the Gold Coast, also tested positive.
February 6
A 37-year-old woman was diagnosed with coronavirus from the same travel group that flew to Queensland from Melbourne on January 27.
February 21
Two Queensland women, aged 54 and 55, tested positive for COVID-19 and will be flown to Brisbane for further treatment.
A 57-year-old woman from Queensland also tested positive for the virus.
February 28
A 63-year-old woman was confirmed to have the virus after returning to the Gold Coast from Iran.
March 3
A 20-year-old man from China was confirmed as the tenth person to be infected by the coronavirus in Queensland. The man had travelled to Dubai for at least 14 days before entering Australia, via Brisbane on February 23.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA: 3
February 1
A Chinese couple in their 60s who arrived in Adelaide from Wuhan to visit relatives are confirmed to have coronavirus.
A 24-year-old woman from South Australia was transferred to Royal Adelaide Hospital.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA: 2
February 21
A 78-year-old man from Western Australia was transferred to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth. On February 28, he was taken into intensive care in a ‘serious’ condition and later died.
March 1
The elderly man died in the early hours of the morning from the virus at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.
TASMANIA: 1
March 2
The man who travelled from Iran to Australia on Saturday tested positive for COVID-19.