Infants are more likely to be hospitalized from Omicron: watch for these symptoms – National

Children’s hospitals across Canada are dealing with a record number of children admitted following the Omicron wave sweeping the country.

Experts say children under the age of five are more likely to be hospitalized than other age groups because they are not yet eligible for vaccines and may have different symptoms from those seen in adults.

Cases of Omicron in infants under the age of one are almost seven times more likely to result in hospitalizations, Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, said Friday.

According to Jesse Papenburg, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and medical microbiologist in Quebec, high levels of community spread are currently occurring and many children who come to the hospital for screening have accidentally contracted COVID-19.

Hospitalizations may have increased in children compared to previous waves, but they are currently low overall, accounting for less than 1% of total reported cases in children under five.

However, it is expected that “the actual numbers [will] be higher than in previous waves,” Tam said.

No matter which respiratory virus infants contract, they are likely to be more severely affected than adults, Tam said.

Symptoms of COVID-19 can vary from person to person, within different age groups and by variant, but Papenburg says that, like adults, children under five can go from completely asymptomatic to mild symptoms.

Some of the most commonly reported symptoms include a new or worsening cough, shortness of breath, feeling feverish, and chills.

In an interview with Global News, Papenburg explained that Omicron in very young children reaches their airways, while in adults deeper lung tissues are affected.

“In young babies especially, if they have a lot of secretions, those secretions can block the lower airways and cause what we call bronchiolitis. And some children get bronchiolitis due to their COVID-19 infection, especially children under one year old,” Papenbrug said.

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According to the Mayo Clinic, Bronchiolitis is a common lung infection in young children and infants. It causes inflammation and congestion in the small airways of the lung.

Bronchiolitis begins with cold-like symptoms, but then progresses to coughing, wheezing, and sometimes difficulty breathing.

“The small airways in the lungs are very small in young children, so it doesn’t take a lot of mucus to clog them. And then they experience breathing difficulties and need help, whether in terms of oxygen therapy or mechanical ventilation,” Papenburg said.

He said the virus, which causes this condition, respiratory syncytial virus is the number one cause of hospital admissions for infants. This is something COVID-19 can trigger.

Unlike adults, infants and children may experience an uncommon complication of COVID-19 infection identified as multisystem inflammatory syndrome.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the syndrome is a condition in which different parts of the body can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs.

“It’s a post-infectious phenomenon that usually occurs between two and six weeks after what is generally considered a very mild COVID infection,” Papenburg said.

“So these kids can get very sick, very quickly,” he added.

He said, so far, no deaths have been reported in pediatrics due to this disease, adding that hospitals have anti-inflammatory drugs that work very well to help with this hyper-inflammatory condition.

To protect children under five who are not eligible for vaccines, Dr Tam said the adults around them need to up their game by protecting themselves through vaccination and masking.

Currently, Tam said there are still millions more Canadians who need to be vaccinated. According to official data, more than 6.7 million eligible people still need a first or second dose of their primary series.

She also stressed the importance of getting vaccinated during pregnancy.

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“Research shows that vaccination during pregnancy triggers the development of protective antibodies that can also be passed to that young infant,” she said.

Papenburg said “parents should be concerned” because there can be serious consequences when it comes to COVID-19 in children.

“But fortunately these findings are much less common than what we see in an adult population,” he said. “Even though there is massive community transmission, we are seeing hospitalizations, but fewer hospitalizations than we would see during peak respiratory…virus season for children.”

Papenburg also pointed out that pediatric infectious disease specialists like him see more hospitalizations due to influenza than COVID-19 in children.

“I think the message is that if you have a child who is sick for any reason, whether you think it might be COVID or some other reason, we have the capacity to care for that child and our emergency room is open. Our rooms are open. Our intensive rooms are open and functioning,” he said.