Children develop long-term immunity to COVID-19
Current results of the COVID-19 Family Study Baden-Württemberg published as a preprint / Asymptomatic course of infection five times more common in children than in adults / Immune response more stable than in adults
How does a COVID-19 infection progress in children, are they protected after a mild course and what role do they play in the pandemic as sufferers, sources and amplifiers of infection? Scientists from the university hospitals in Freiburg, Heidelberg, Tübingen and Ulm and the Natural and Medical Sciences Institute NMI in Reutlingen have investigated these key questions in the COVID-19 children's study initiated and funded by the state of Baden-Württemberg. They showed that children within families were infected significantly less often than adults and that the course of the disease was usually much milder. At the same time, the immune response in children was stronger on average and lasted longer than in adults, regardless of whether symptoms occurred. The results were published as a preprint on July 23, 2021.
Fewer symptoms, better immune protection
For the study, 328 families with at least one member suffering from COVID-19 were examined several times. A total of 548 children between the ages of 6 and 14 and 717 adults took part. In families with an infected person, children (34 percent) were significantly less likely to be infected than adults (58 percent) and - in the event of infection - were five times more likely to show no signs of illness (adults: 9 percent, children: 45 percent). Nevertheless, the children showed stronger and longer-lasting specific antibody levels than adults eleven to twelve months after infection. This was true regardless of whether there were any signs of illness or not. Children's antibodies are highly effective against different virus variants, so that even children who are not visibly ill should be protected after an infection. None of the infected children had to be treated in hospital.
Signs of illness differ
Adults and children also differed in the symptoms reported. While fever, cough, diarrhea and taste disturbances were equally good indicators of an infection in adults, only taste disturbances were a clear indication of a COVID-19 infection in children (in 87 percent). Cough and fever were only an indication of infection with increasing age from around twelve years.
In summary, it can be seen that children who have recovered from COVID-19 develop a very effective and persistent immune defense against new coronavirus infections despite an often very mild or even symptom-free course. There are indications that children's immune defenses even outperform those of adults.
Title of the study: Typically asymptomatic but with robust antibody formation: Children's unique humoral immune response to SARS-CoV-2
DOI: 10.1101/2021.07.20.21260863
Link to the study: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.20.21260863v1
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Philipp Henneke
Head of the Department of Pediatric Infectiology and Rheumatology
Center for Pediatrics
Medical Center - University of Freiburg
Phone: 0761 270-77640
philipp.henneke@uniklinik-freiburg.de
Dr. Roland Elling
Senior Physician in the Department of Pediatric Infectiology and Rheumatology
Center for Pediatrics
Medical Center - University of Freiburg
Phone: 0761 270-45291
roland.elling@uniklinik-freiburg.de
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