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Children develop many other difficult-to-identify syndromes after contracting covid. Fatigue is common. Some children may have a cough or sore throat for months. Others take months to regain their sense of taste and smell. Some are too weak to go to school or show signs of heart damage, while others have seizures and fainting. Symptoms may resolve temporarily before they recur. Some children have a single persistent symptom, while others experience a constellation.

The severity of symptoms also varies, and these differences may be missed in studies comparing children with and without SARS-CoV-2. A questionnaire asking children if they have a headache may not be able to distinguish a mild headache from a severe experience that causes the child to be unable to open their eyes or get out of bed.

In reality, prolonged covid is likely to involve several different conditions. “It’s not a diagnosis, it’s not a disease… we don’t know what it is,” Forrest says. “Soft.” Stephenson and Mcfarland met with WHO representatives to discuss a potential definition for long-term covid in children, but so far none have been identified. The WHO says it will need more studies and research.

While progress in finding a clinical definition has stalled, there has been some agreement on a way to identify long-term covid in children, at least for research purposes.

In February, Stephenson and colleagues long term covid definition in children should be used in studies that indicate that symptoms must follow a confirmed case of covid-19, affect the child’s life and physical, mental or social well-being, and must last for at least 12 weeks. Stephenson hopes it will align the WHO’s definition with that, but in the meantime, that definition should at least help get researchers to study the same, he says.

vaccine value

The only way to prevent long-term covid is to avoid catching SARS-CoV-2, which is why many doctors and scientists are encouraging people to get vaccinated. It’s not clear how long-term vaccines can protect against covid, but several recent studies show: vaccine can reduce a child’s risk of serious illness two-thirds from the omicron variant.

Long-term covid is thought to more often follow more severe infections, but can also follow mild or even asymptomatic cases. “It’s more common in children, I think is unique and disturbing,” says Yvonne Maldonado, an infectious disease pediatrician at Stanford University and chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases.

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Since vaccines can reduce the severity of cases and should reduce transmission, Recommended for all children over 5 years old in the USA. As of March 30, 58% of 12-17 year olds had received both doses of the covid-19 vaccine, According to CDC data published by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Only 27% of those aged 5 to 11 had it.

In the UK, covid-19 vaccines for young children are at the center of another debate. the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI), which advises the government announced last month that it plans to offer the COVID-19 vaccine to all children ages 5 to 11.and then only on a “non-urgent” basis.

“I think JCVI did everything right,” says Absoud. “The way they’re left now is that it’s a choice for families.”

“Lots of kids” are affected

Binita Kane at University of Manchester NHS Foundation Trust

Of course, there are other ways to reduce transmission among children. Experts we contacted highlighted the importance of keeping schools open and said that measures such as improving ventilation and air quality, and at least masking during fluctuations in transmission among adult caregivers can help keep case numbers low and prevent both long-term covid and long-term coronavirus. “long pandemic syndrome.” They’re also the only option we have for protecting children under 5 years old.

All children significantly affected by SARS-CoV-2, directly or indirectly, will need support to recover, so discussions about the prevalence of long-term covid in children may be irrelevant. “Everything needs to be treated, whether it’s long-term covid or long-pandemic syndrome,” Villapol says.

Even if only 1% of children develop long-term covid after an infection, the total number of children affected would reach the millions, given how many children are already infected with the virus. JCVI’s guidelines on immunizing children show that 85% of children aged 5 to 11 in the UK are infected with the virus by the end of January 2022 before they are eligible for vaccination. “There are too many kids,” Kane says.

Today Kane’s daughter Jasmin is doing better. Kane says a new treatment regimen seems to have helped, and although he hasn’t fully regained his energy levels, he has “recovered quite a lot.”

The problem is that while researchers discuss prevalence, the focus is shifting away from biological causes and potential treatments, which means many other children still suffer.

“We can’t wait years,” Kane says. “We have to keep going.”