coronavirus lethality and age

[moment]

Why does entering puberty (10+ years old) seem to increase the coronavirus lethality from 0%?

[Leif]

Due to data available for that age group still statistically relatively insignificant, also due to high differences in healthcare in various countries, ...

Graph for Korea that I have seen somewhere listed 0% until 30 y/o.

[dawei]

I was talking with my wife about this recently.  The lack of data is there but those who got infected and then infected their entire family did include the children... just that they are not fatalities.   This at least side steps the question of why are they not prone to catch it and just talk about those that did.  

 

I have only speculation.  That their systems are much 'cleaner' to start with and less prone to having junk stick to it.  No emotional or psychological issues to start with... and even if sick, they are not dreading whether this is their last breath.   I read the stories of surviving adults who talk like they believed they were on death's bed... the sheer panic of it all comes through their tale.  I think the kids just want to go outside to play, even if sick. 

 

I think there is a moral (or three) to this story though... 

[silent thunder]

The big critters eat the little critters.

 

Eventually the biggest critters are eaten by the littlest of all.

 

Repeat.

 

 

[thelerner]

I forget if it was recovery or not catching the virus, but woman had a few percentage points advantage over men.  The author of the report speculated that it was due to a more active immune system, ie one that can backfire giving them more autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, but in cases of this virus gives some protection. 

[moment]

The coronavirus' mercy on children is a mystery to pediatric infectious diseases experts, who have a handful of working theories but no real answers for why. Normal coronaviruses seem to affect children and adults equally, but this one, for whatever reason, certainly skews more to the adult population.  We've seen similar patterns for other diseases — chickenpox, for example. Adults who get it tend to get much more severe cases than children.

There are possible explanations. Children, who are typically bombarded with certain other coronaviruses, such as the ones that cause the common cold, may have antibodies in their bloodstream from exposure to those that offers some cross-protection for this virus.

Kids with this novel coronavirus, maybe they are responding like they would any other coronavirus, where they get a little runny nose, a little cough, or very mild symptoms, because they have seen coronavirus before, and maybe that provides them a little more protection.

But with the new coronavirus--the virus seems to be transmitted efficiently, and yet, it still appears that younger kids under 10 years of age simply aren't getting the disease, or if they are, they're not getting too many symptoms.

This does not mean that children can't transmit the virus to other, more vulnerable members of the community. As testing becomes more widely available in the United States, more cases in children are likely to be detected.

Kids are faring better. What's their secret to their success?  But that doesn't mean your child or any other child is not going to get sick, and it doesn't mean they can't get infected and spread the infection to other people who can get more sick.

In the meantime, experts hope the immunity children are displaying will give them more clues about how the novel coronavirus behaves.

What is it about children that makes them get mild or no symptoms, and older people get really sick?

Edited March 18, 2020 by moment

[thelerner]

Wondering where to drop this.  Its an article from History.com on 5 of History's Worst Pandemics.  Interesting but depressive read- https://www.history.com/news/pandemics-end-plague-cholera-black-death-smallpox

 

".. The plague never really went away, and when it returned 800 years later, it killed with reckless abandon. The Black Death, which hit Europe in 1347, claimed an astonishing 200 million lives in just four years.

..

As for how to stop the disease, people still had no scientific understanding of contagion, says Mockaitis, but they knew that it had something to do with proximity. That’s why forward-thinking officials in Venetian-controlled port city of Ragusa decided to keep newly arrived sailors in isolation until they could prove they weren’t sick.   At first, sailors were held on their ships for 30 days, which became known in Venetian law as a trentino. As time went on, the Venetians increased the forced isolation to 40 days or a quarantino, the origin of the word quarantine and the start of its practice in the Western world.

..

London never really caught a break after the Black Death. The plague resurfaced roughly every 20 years from 1348 to 1665—40 outbreaks in 300 years. And with each new plague epidemic, 20 percent of the men, women and children living in the British capital were killed.."

 

 

take away??  Praise science, modern hygiene, clean water, indoor plumbing, antibiotics.  The doctors, nurses and researchers of all nations, on the frontlines, saving lives.  

[old3bob]

On 3/16/2020 at 9:01 AM, dawei said:

I was talking with my wife about this recently.  The lack of data is there but those who got infected and then infected their entire family did include the children... just that they are not fatalities.   This at least side steps the question of why are they not prone to catch it and just talk about those that did.  

 

I have only speculation.  That their systems are much 'cleaner' to start with and less prone to having junk stick to it.  No emotional or psychological issues to start with... and even if sick, they are not dreading whether this is their last breath.   I read the stories of surviving adults who talk like they believed they were on death's bed... the sheer panic of it all comes through their tale.  I think the kids just want to go outside to play, even if sick. 

 

I think there is a moral (or three) to this story though... 

 

indeed and we also see the stories of kids with serious cancer or other major conditions with like states of mind and getting better!