✓ Long Covid in children: Omicron would be more at risk

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Omicron and Long Covid in children

It is now known that Omicron is highly contagious and that it is affecting many children, especially because they are still minimally vaccinated and only in the 5-11 range. However, we also know that it is a viral form with very little chance of developing serious consequences. However, this does not completely rule them out: let's see what is known about Omicron and Long Covid in children.

What is Long Covid

Long Covid means not so much a positivity to virus that drags on for a long time, as well as different consequences on the organism as a result of the infection. Initially mistaken for stress, Long Covid was already outlined after the first months of the pandemic, with people still showing at least one symptom even 120 days after diagnosis.

Among the most common symptoms, especially in children: headache, insomnia, respiratory problems, arrhythmias, muscle and joint pain, fatigue.

Read also: Long Covid: the consequences on children

Omicron more at risk Long Covid

Although the Omicron variant it seems lighter and with rarely serious consequences, especially in healthy subjects, unfortunately it is highly contagious and it is affecting a large number of children. For this reason, it is not difficult to imagine that many of the children who have contracted Covid-19 in this period will have long-term consequences.

According to Moshe Ashkenazi, an Israeli pediatrician, about 7-10% of those infected by the previous waves have developed the Long Covid, "but with Omicron, the number of infected people is so high that even if only 1% of infected children get Long Covid, this would cause more pediatric cases of Long Covid than Delta."

Read also: Fertility and Covid-19: a collapse in births is expected

Pediatric wards already saturated

In many hospitals i pediatric wards, precisely because of the very high contagiousness of the virus and a number of infected never recorded before, places are already scarce. Also according to the Israeli doctor, the new pediatric ward created especially for Omicron at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan it could already be filled within a couple of weeks. Even in Del Paese, many pediatric wards complain of a worrying occupation and cases of newborns affected by Omicron are not rare.

How to recognize Long Covid in children

If your child has contract the Covid and you want to observe his state of health, take as a reference some parameters and the most common symptoms of the so-called Long Covid. For example, the most common would be asthenia - that is a perpetual tiredness - and the "hunger for air": if, after having climbed the stairs or made a minimum effort, the child has the out of breath, if you often complain of tiredness but also if you have pain in your bones or muscles and feel palpitations, talk to your pediatrician, who can advise you what to do.

Il Long Covid in children it is a possibility already observed during previous waves, which were much less contagious than Omicron. With the high prevalence of this variant, the long-term consequences are also likely to be much more widespread, in proportion. For this it is good do not underestimate children's symptoms, and always talk to your pediatrician.

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