Do children with severe acute respiratory infection need cohorting & isolation before screening for COVID-19?

This retrospective analysis was done to ascertain the SARS-CoV-2-positivity rate in children (0-12 yr) with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) and compare it to those without SARI to determine the need for running a dedicated SARI isolation facility for paediatric COVID-19 care. The case records of 8780 children (0-12 yr) admitted and/or tested for SARS-CoV-2 between June 2020 and May 2021 at a tertiary care centre in north India were analyzed. The overall SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription (RT)-PCR positivity rate was 3.0 per cent (262/8780). There were 1155 (13.15%) children with SARI. Fifty of these 1155 (4.3%) children with SARI, as against 212 of the 7625 (2.8%) children without SARI, tested positive for COVID-19. The absolute difference in the positivity rate among SARI and non-SARI groups was only 1.54 per cent which translates to cohorting and isolating 65 children with SARI to pick up one extra SARS-CoV-2-positive child (compared to those without SARI). The positive predictive value of SARI as a screening test was 4.3 per cent. Our findings suggest that isolation of children with SARI as a transmission-prevention strategy for COVID-19 may not be required. This is particularly relevant in resource-limited settings.

Keywords

Children, COVID-19, isolation, RT-PCR, SARS-CoV-2, screening, SARI

Citation

Kumar Rakesh, Sah Ritesh Ranjan, Gupta Anju, Nallasamy Karthi, Ghosh Arnab, Verma Sanjay. Do children with severe acute respiratory infection need cohorting & isolation before screening for COVID-19?. Indian Journal of Medical Research. 2022 Jun; 155(5-6): 491–495

URI

https://imsear.searo.who.int/handle/123456789/223619

Collections

Indian Journal of Medical Research

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