Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infection in Children

Hyunju Lee; Mi Seon Han

doi:10.14776/piv.2015.22.3.143

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Lee and Han: Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infection in Children

Review Article

Pediatr Infect Vaccine 2015;22(3):143-146.

Published online: 21 January 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14776/piv.2015.22.3.143

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infection in Children

Hyunju Lee, Mi Seon Han

Department of Pediatrics, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea

Correspondence: Hyunju Lee Department of Pediatrics, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam. Korea Tel: +82731778777288, Fax: +82731778774054 EimaH: hyunju‘ee@snubh_org

Received 7 November 201510 November 2015 Accepted 10 November 2015

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Since 2012, outbreaks of the Middle East respiratory coronavirus (MERS-CoV) have been reported, including the Republic of Korea. To date, most of the people infected with the virus are adults. Herein we describe the clinical characteristics of cases of MERS-COV infection among children. As of October 29, 2015, MERS—COV has caused 34 pediatric infections, which accounts for 2.1% of all cases. The median age was 13 years (range 9 months to 17 years) and where gender has been reported (n=33), 57.6% cases were male. About half of the patients were asymptomatic and the majority of the symptomatic patients had respiratory symptoms. In general, the clinical outcome in children was favorable. Among the four patients who died of progressive pneumonia, three had documented comorbidities. MERS—CoV infection in children has a lower incidence and mortality compared to adults.

Keywords: Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, MERS-CoV, Korea, Outbreak, Children

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