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With the sudden increase of influenza A subtype H3N2 cases across the country raising concerns, a health expert at Delhi's Sir <keyword id="4014646" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="gangaram-hospital" source="Orion">Gangaram Hospital</keyword> on Thursday pointed out that the pattern of viruses has changed remarkably and unexpectedly in the past six months. Hospitals across the country are reporting thousands of cases of H3N2 influenza. According to <keyword id="6195115" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="dr-dhiren-gupta" source="Orion">Dr Dhiren Gupta</keyword>, Senior Consultant, department of paediatric emergency and critical care, Sir <keyword id="222793" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="gangaram" source="Orion">Gangaram</keyword> hospital, said, "Over the past 6 months pattern of viruses has changed remarkably and unexpectedly. Normally, we expect influenza as the number 1 virus which can lead to hospitalisation. This time Influenza A virus subtype H3N2 has led to a lot of respiratory tract infections." <keyword id="1989242" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="dr-gupta" source="Orion">Dr Gupta</keyword> further said, "Another observation- type B influenza (past two months 5 leading to <keyword id="1334956" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="picu" source="Orion">PICU</keyword> admission) has led to more severe pulmonary infections in form of ARDS, severe pneumonia requiring ventilation." He said that another virus which is leading to serious disease is an adenovirus. "Over the past 2 months, there is a significant rise in adenovirus leading to intensive care unit admission. (11 patients required PICU over two months (Jan, Feb 2023) vs 17 in last 1 year (Jan till December 2022)," he pointed out. Further explaining adenovirus, Dr Gupta said that DNA virus mainly affects the upper respiratory tract, and eyes and spreads like COVID. "Adenovirus is a DNA virus, with more than 60 subtypes, severe disease has been associated with serotype 7, 14, serotype 5, 21, 14. Mainly affect the upper respiratory tract, and eyes. It can cause pneumonia in immunocompromised. Spread like COVID. Previously thought that this virus mainly affects less than two years and immunocompromised but this year its behaviour was very different, Cidofovir can be used in progressive disease in immunocompromised." he explained. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/google-will-promote-fewer-employees-to-senior-roles-in-2023/articleshow/98516065.cms">Google will promote fewer employees to senior roles in 2023</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/this-startup-founder-who-ran-away-from-home-at-15-builds-a-100-crore-business/articleshow/98513355.cms">This startup founder who ran away from home at 15, builds a ₹100 crore business</a>

Virus patterns changed in last 6 months, says expert as India reports thousands of H3N2 cases

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Karen O'Donnell Fountain is a nurse who works at two large New York City hospitals.</li><li>She said it's heart-wrenching to watch babies and toddlers with RSV who can't breathe on their own.</li></ul>This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Karen O'Donnell Fountain, a 56-year-old nurse from New York, about <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/rsv">RSV</a>, a respiratory virus that is surging in kids across the US. It has been edited for length and clarity.My experience this weekend was crying.The <a href="https://www.insider.com/rsv-hitting-toddlers-hard-across-us-lining-up-hospital-beds-2022-10">emergency room was full</a> and we had multiple hallway beds throughout that were full, also. They opened up a zone in the hallway where we transported patients down to the emergency and put beds there so that we could keep seeing patients.You're trying to help 10 people all at the same time, and you're trying to deliver medications, or get an IV in, or pull labs. It's very rough, because there's so many of them and only one of you. It is very tiring, and I think it mentally adds to what we go through.This is the busiest RSV season I've seen in my career.As a healthcare worker, I definitely think it's due to kids not being exposed to germs and not being able to fight off the virus as they were two years prior because of COVID. We're heading into very rough waters for the pediatric population.<h1>It's extremely hard to watch a child experiencing RSV symptoms</h1>It's heart-wrenching to watch any patient, especially a 3-month-old who can't breathe on their own. You're the nurse, so you are doing things to them that they do not appreciate. I had a 3-year-old that I had to put an IV in, and drew labs on, and he was a fighter.You also always have empathy for the patient and the parent. They're at a loss because they can't help — <a href="https://www.insider.com/toddler-ended-in-hospital-with-rsv-scared-of-doctors-now-2022-10">most of the mothers have a hard time consoling the child</a>. When you have anything that makes it hard to breathe, it just makes for a very upset and very unhappy child.<h1>I've seen full emergency rooms and pediatric intensive care units</h1><div type="image" title="O’Donnell Fountain told Insider this was the busiest RSV season she's seen in her nursing career." height="1741" width="2316" msid="95477935" hostid="261" sizebytes="228856"></div>I work in two large New York City hospitals, and both pediatric intensive care units — or PICUs — are full.Over the weekend, our PICU was at max capacity, with most patients experiencing <a href="https://www.insider.com/rsv-respiratory-syncytial-virus-children-hospital-symptoms-signs-risk-prevent-2022-10">RSV-related symptoms</a> and diagnosis. These are younger patients, 5 and below, and are definitely very inconsolable. Trouble breathing. Not eating. We also had 50 people in the pediatric waiting room waiting to be seen.I've heard this from other PICU nurses in other parts of the country. Their PICUs are full, and patients are staying in the ER until a bed opens up in the PICU.<h1>I think parents are bringing in kids with colds worried that it might be RSV</h1>If your child is playing, eating, running around, watching TV, and active, they probably have a common cold and we don't want you bringing those children in because it clogs up the ER. We don't want to put someone who's severely ill behind someone who's not.I triaged two young girls on Sunday, and they were both sent home. It was just a common cold — it wasn't RSV — and they waited 3+ hours. The ER is an emergency room. It is for emergencies. And especially going into flu season, we want to try to keep the emergency room clear so that we can help the sickest of the sick.<h1>We're seeing a shortage of pediatric nurses across the country</h1><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nurses-are-considering-leaving-the-profession-after-covid-19-pandemic-2021-5">Not everyone can be a travel nurse.</a> Not all people are cut out for it. You leave your home, your family, your friends. Most of the contracts are 13 weeks that you are away. If you have kids, it's very straining.It's also a very lonely job. It takes a while to make friends, to have somebody to talk to at work. It's not a life for every nurse.But if you like to travel, and if your kids are older, and your spouse wants to travel with you, it's an amazing life.I work with a healthcare company that supplies travel nurses, and we have seen 100% uptick in the request for pediatric nurses and PICU nurses. I think that's due to a lot of PICU nurses during COVID taking care of adult patients. They have now transferred to the adult world instead of going back to PICU. It's having a huge impact on the nursing shortage in the pediatric areas.When you're short-staffed, it means that your nurse-to-patient ratio or your physician-to-patient ratio goes up. It's having a very large impact on the nurses that are still actively bedside, and it's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/travel-nurses-became-frontline-heroes-covid-19-pandemic-2021-2">increasing the nurse burnout</a>. It's increasing fatigue, dissatisfaction, and depression.It's definitely having a negative effect on us. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/i-make-tons-of-money-travel-nurse-not-worth-it-2022-3">We're tired.</a>All these TV shows that are out there, like "Grey's Anatomy" and all that — they hook you on it, but that's not healthcare. No one has time to flirt, OK. There's none of that going on.

I'm a pediatric nurse seeing 50 RSV patients a day. This is what it's like treating inconsolable toddlers with the illness.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A 6-month-old baby underwent heart surgery after a court intervened in the infant's care, per <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/09/asia/baby-w-surgery-scli-intl-wellness/index.html">CNN</a>.</li><li>The parents delayed the operation because they didn't want "blood that is tainted by vaccination."</li></ul>When <a href="https://www.insider.com/parents-refuse-heart-surgery-baby-if-vaccinated-blood-used-2022-11">parents refused to push forward with an open heart surgery</a> for their 6-month-old baby out of concern that remnants of the COVID-19 vaccine would negatively impact the infant, New Zealand courts intervened and pushed the lifesaving operation forward, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/09/asia/baby-w-surgery-scli-intl-wellness/index.html">CNN reported</a>.The baby, whose only identification is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/09/new-zealand-baby-w-case-boy-has-surgery-after-court-gives-doctors-guardianship">Baby W</a>, had a life-threatening congenital heart defect but — despite the urgency — the parents insisted on delaying his operation until they found a donor without the COVID-19 vaccination, CNN added."We don't want blood that is tainted by vaccination. That's the end of the deal — we are fine with anything else these doctors want to do," the father of the child said, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/30/new-zealand-parents-refuse-use-of-vaccinated-blood-in-life-saving-surgery-on-baby">The Guardian</a>.With <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations?country=NZL">more than 83% of New Zealand's population being vaccinated</a> for COVID-19, the majority of blood, which was needed for the operation, would contain COVID antibodies. "Almost all blood in New Zealand will have Covid antibodies in it so unless you're going to refuse all blood, I can't imagine how you'll get round this," Professor Nikki Turner, the medical director of Auckland University's Immunisation Advisory Centre, said, <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/supporters-gather-as-health-nz-heads-to-court-over-baby-guardianship-after-parents-request-unvaccinated-blood-for-heart-surgery/KARDMXINANC37L2AUB4KIGRYJM/">according to the NZ Herald</a>."The next thing is that Covid antibodies per se are not in any way going to be a problem for the person receiving them, they're just going to offer the person extra protection against Covid disease," Turner added.With doctors and the parents unable to come to an agreement, New Zealand's health service, <a href="https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/">Te Whatu Ora</a>, submitted an application to the High Court in Auckland under the Care of Children Act in late November. They sought temporary guardianship of the infant, which allowed the operation to go forward, according to The Guardian. The operation, which occurred on Friday, went "as well as can be hoped," the parents' attorney, Sue Grey, told Insider."He is still in PICU. His parents have been reunited with him and have been staying with him around the clock," she added.The parents chose to have a "peaceful time with their baby until the operation, and to support him through the operation," Grey told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/09/new-zealand-baby-w-case-boy-has-surgery-after-court-gives-doctors-guardianship">The Guardian</a> on Thursday.Grey said the parents were dismissed as "conspiracy theorists" because of their concerns, <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/supporters-gather-as-health-nz-heads-to-court-over-baby-guardianship-after-parents-request-unvaccinated-blood-for-heart-surgery/KARDMXINANC37L2AUB4KIGRYJM/">the NZ Herald reported</a>. On Friday, dozens of protesters surrounded the hospital in support of the parents as the surgery went on, according to <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/480419/blood-donor-case-baby-s-surgery-takes-place-at-starship">CNN affiliate Radio New Zealand</a>. They gathered with signs, one of which read "Do not experiment on our children" and another that said "Support for Baby.""The chance of finding spike protein in donated blood is very small, and it will be in the picogram range if it is there at all," the <a href="https://www.nzblood.co.nz/knowledge-hub/covid-19/covid-19-vaccines/">New Zealand Blood Service website</a> said. "There is no evidence that this represents any risk to recipients," it added.The baby will remain under court guardianship until he is fully healed, according to CNN. "The decision to make an application to the court is always made with the best interests of the child in mind and following extensive conversations with whānau [extended family]," interim director of Te Whatu Ora, Dr. Mike Shepherd, told the NZ Herald.

A baby whose anti-vax parents rejected heart surgery over fear of 'blood that is tainted' had the life-saving surgery anyway after a court intervened

New York, Apr 18 () The number of children infected with the coronavirus is far more extensive than what is currently reported, according to a study that could help better estimate the demand on pediatric intensive care units. The research, published in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, estimates that for each child who requires intensive care for COVID-19, there are 2,381 children infected with the virus. According to the researchers, including those from the University of South Florida (USF) in the US, this calculation follows a report from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention regarding its clinical study of over 2,100 children with COVID-19. Based on data from the North American registry, Virtual PICU Systems, the scientists said 74 children in the US were admitted to pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) between March 18 and April 6 for COVID-19 treatment. This, they said, indicated that an additional 1,76,190 children were likely infected during this timeframe. According to the PICU systems, children younger than two accounted for 30 per cent of the cases, 24 per cent were ages two to 11, and 46 per cent of the PICU cases were children between ages 12 and 17. The researchers said that if as many as 25 per cent of the US population becomes infected with the coronavirus before the end of 2020, 50,000 children with severe illness will need to be hospitalized, with 5,400 of them critically ill and requiring mechanical ventilation. Clinical reports, they said, indicated that the average length of stay for pediatric COVID-19 is 14 days. According to a US national survey, aimed to evaluate the pediatric critical care capacity, there are approximately 5,100 PICU beds in the country. "Although the risk of severe illness from COVID-19 is lower in pediatric cases than adults, hospitals should be prepared and have the proper equipment and staffing levels to deal with a potential influx of younger patients," said author Jason Salemi, associate professor of epidemiology from the USF. "Government officials and policy makers should understand the likelihood of capacity challenges, which underscores the importance of effective mitigation strategies such as frequent and thorough handwashing and persisted social distancing measures," Salemi said. According to the researchers, pediatric coronavirus is highly complex, as many hospitals are prohibiting visitors in order to implement social distancing and quarantine protocols. They said a child may also infect a caretaker. This may require logistical and infection control accommodations that place an additional strain on hospital resources, the researchers added. The scientists added that young children after being discharged from hospitals may be unable to independently comply with home infection control and self-isolation recommendations. Children in low-income families with parents in blue-collar and service jobs, which preclude the option of working from home maybe at higher risk of infection and transmitting the disease to others, they said. The study noted that there's also an increased risk to children who live in urban public housing projects due to the close proximity of housing units and small communal recreation and commons areas. VIS VISVIS

More children infected with coronavirus than previously thought: Study

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Baby Dorothea Velez had a 10% chance of surviving her birth and complex heart surgery.</li><li>Her parents refused to listen to doctors who told them there was no hope.</li></ul>When Zofia Fenyrch was pregnant with her second child — a girl with a rare and complex heart defect named Dorothea — she and her husband, Rob Velez, hoped to increase their baby's chances of survival through fetal intervention.The couple told Insider <a href="https://www.insider.com/surgery-rare-heart-syndrome-baby-save-life-2022-4">their story</a> in April while they tried to raise $3.25 million to cover the cost of the in-utero surgery that only a leading cardiologist in Houston, Texas, could perform.They fell short of their financial goal. It meant that Dorothea, whom they said doctors had suggested they terminate, would have a less-than-10% survival rate at birth.She had <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hypoplastic-left-heart-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20350599#:~:text=Overview,pump%20blood%20to%20the%20body.">hypoplastic left-heart syndrome</a> — a condition that occurs when the left side of the organ is chronically under-developed. In her case, the prognosis was worse because her condition came with an "intact atrial septum," meaning there was no hole in the upper chambers of her heart. It meant that blood couldn't return from her lungs to her already compromised heart, causing backup and subsequent damage.<h2>Dorothea was safely born via C-section but has faced severe health challenges ever since</h2>A <a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/01.CIR.0000128690.35860.C5">paper</a> published by the Journal of the American Heart Association described the combination of the two conditions as "highly lethal."Fenyrch and Velez said that it felt like a miracle when Dorothea beat the odds and was safely delivered by C-section on July 7, 2022. "We always hung onto hope. There was fear, but faith and hope dominated because we'd loved her and fought for her for so long," Fenyrch said.<div type="image" title="Zofia Fenyrch poses cheek to cheek with her baby, Dorothea, in the hospital" height="1028" width="1368" msid="94925830" hostid="261" sizebytes="45838"></div>However, she said that they needed to cling to that hope "even harder" because Dorothea faced a second challenge — a surgery with a similarly low rate of survival to that of her birth.Fenyrch, who is from Brighton, England, said that medical staff told her even if Dorothea survived the surgery, which doctors needed to perform during her first week of life, there would be "neurological complications."Velez said they were "strongly pushed to decide on palliative care."But, he said, they refused to give up on Dorothea. Velez said that they managed to find possibly the only surgeon in the UK who was willing to carry out the procedure. The consultant who agreed to take on their case was <a href="https://www.rbhh-specialistcare.co.uk/specialists/guido-michielon">Guido Michielon</a>, a lead congenital surgeon at Royal Brompton Hospital. Michielon told Insider that the "complex anatomy" of Dorothea's heart meant the operation was "highly likely to be unsuccessful."<h2>Dorothea's parents refused to give up on their baby as she fought to survive</h2>Fenyrch described the upcoming surgery as "altering the plumbing" of Dorothea's heart so that her blood could circulate more efficiently. She said that Michielon told her that he was motivated by the knowledge that she and Velez "had already come so far with Dorothea and were determined that she would live.""I told him that I wanted her to know that we did everything we could in our power to help save her," she said.But the parents hit a roadblock. They said that two days before the planned surgery, the hospital canceled the procedure. The couple said that the administration told them the chances of Dorothea surviving the surgery were too low."It felt like they cut our wings off," Fenyrch said.The couple, who have another daughter, 2-year-old Bathsheba, hired a human-rights lawyer. "We were devastated, but we were determined to continue our fight. We started bombarding the hospital with personal and legal letters," Velez said.He said that the strategy worked. Michelion was able to perform the surgery on Dorothea when she was almost a week old. The surgeon told Insider that it was an all-day procedure.He said that, to the surprise of many of his colleagues, the baby pulled through and appeared to be stable. However, Michelion said, Dorothea had a sudden drop in blood pressure after she was transferred to the pediatric intensive-care unit. She went into cardiac arrest and medical staff performed CPR.<h2>It took more than an hour for doctors and nurses to restore Dorothea's heartbeat after she went into cardiac arrest</h2>"They turned on the alarms, and it was scary sounding," Fenyrch said.The 41-year-old, who, like her husband, is Catholic, said that they had to wait in a separate room while the hospital staff worked on their newborn. "We thought, 'God, if the six days we've had with Dorothea are all you can give us, then we are thankful for the time we had together,'" Fenyrch said.To their relief, she said, a nurse later told them that the CPR — which had lasted more than an hour — had been successful. Dorothea was placed on an ECMO machine, which temporarily took over the function of her heart and lungs by oxygenating blood outside her body.<div type="image" title="Bathsheba Fenyrch-Velez with her newborn sister, Dorothea" height="360" width="480" msid="94925832" hostid="261" sizebytes="15792"></div>"It was a scary sight because she was swollen with an open heart and dozens of tubes and drains in her body," Velez said. "But we looked beyond all that because our miracle was still happening and she was alive."Dorothea experienced a series of complications. "We were told there were potential horrific outcomes including brain death," Fenyrch said. She said that a nurse told her to have Dorothea's sister and half-brother, Cyprian, visit. "She said that it might be their only memory of her," Fenrych added.<h2>The baby needs to have another round of heart surgery when she reaches 6 months old</h2>But Dorothea battled on. She was moved from the PICU to the high-dependency ward at the end of August. A recent MRI proved that, despite the risky surgery and her cardiac arrest, she'd suffered no brain damage."She smiles all the time," Fenyrch said. "She's an amazing and smart little girl."Dorothea needs to have a second reconstruction of the heart, known as the Glenn procedure, in three months' time to further improve the flow of blood to her lungs. But, as Michelion pointed out, Dorothea's case remains more complex than most others."It's not going to be a straightforward procedure," Michelion, one of a handful of surgeons in the world who are skilled enough to perform the intricate surgery on Dorothea, said.<div type="image" title="Baby Dorothea Fenyrch-Velez, 3 months, in her crib in the hospital" height="900" width="1200" msid="94925834" hostid="261" sizebytes="53476"></div>Fenyrch and Velez must clear another hurdle on their daughter's behalf. Michelion will shortly leave the Royal Brompton Hospital to work at a hospital in Genoa, Italy. The only way that Dorothea can achieve continuity of care — and the highest rate of survival — is to have her second surgery there.Velez, who has set up a <a href="https://www.treeofhope.org.uk/please-help-save-baby-dorotheas-life/">fund</a> to raise money for the latest step, said that the medical and travel costs are expected to reach more than $100,000."We've come so far and we will keep fighting for Dorothea," the father said. He noted that the family sings "Happy Birthday" to the baby every morning to celebrate her new day of life.Meanwhile, Michelion said that Dorothea's "miracle" is "not just the work of science.""It's got a lot to do with love," the surgeon said.

A baby with a heart condition that gave her a 10% chance of surviving birth has beaten the odds. Now, she'll need a second heart surgery at 6 months old.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>My 7-year-old is a medically complex child, and the pandemic has had me on edge about his safety. </li><li>I am fully vaccinated and was anxiously waiting for his turn to get the vaccine. </li></ul>In late February 2020, my medically complex 5-year-old landed in the hospital with ragged breathing from a run-of-the-mill virus. "They can go from fine at breakfast to the PICU by dinner," his pediatrician had said, referring to the pediatric intensive care unit, before sending us to the emergency room, where they admitted him for mild breathing support.My son has a thick medical history that includes bouts of aspiration pneumonia and asthma, but his life-and-death diagnosis is epilepsy, and illness makes him more vulnerable to seizures.Over the next few days, I snuggled with him in his hospital bed, reading about the novel coronavirus, and not even a little bit foreseeing what would happen two weeks later.<h2>Staying at home was easy-ish</h2>I had enough privilege to keep us safely home. But I was still anxious about balancing his school and therapies, my work, and our emotional needs without any of our usual extra support.At home, I could navigate inside a daily schedule that accommodated some of our individual needs. My son requires hand-over-hand support for most activities, and I need quiet to complete my thoughts and work. The actual hard part was, and somewhat still is, I could not address the ceaseless thoughts and questions that accompany being 5, 6, 7 years old. My son is nonverbal; I can ask him questions, and he can respond with some sounds and a bevy of facial expressions, but I'll likely never know the depths of how he felt about our time at home, his return to day care, or what might happen next.In prioritizing his need for intensive therapeutic interventions, we didn't do much more than frequent trips to the neighborhood playground's wheelchair swing. The months passed, fueled by hope for vaccination and free-range anxiety that we were going to pay steeply for my not keeping him home.<h2>As soon as the vaccine was available, I knew he was getting it</h2>Not long before Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved pediatric shots, the local behemoth hospital system opened scheduling throughout their community pediatric primary-care offices but did not include his, which exclusively serves medically complex children.It was one more infuriating reminder of how easy it is not to take disabled people into account, how <keyword id="11910745" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="parenting" source="Orion">parenting</keyword> a disabled child always means additional effort for their safety or inclusion or, <a href="https://www.insider.com/why-parents-shouldnt-lie-about-their-childs-age-vaccine-2021-11">in the case of COVID-19 vaccines, both</a>.Minutes after the CDC's endorsement of the vaccine was announced, I started refreshing vaccines.gov and pharmacies' websites, though nothing updated that night.By 4 the next morning, unable to fall back asleep after tending to a seizing child, I refreshed the sites again. A pharmacy's schedule populated with <a href="https://www.insider.com/my-son-was-eager-to-get-vaccinated-against-covid-2021-11">pediatric appointments starting four days later</a>. It was both that easy and that hard, just as it had been when I scheduled my appointment almost 11 months earlier. I talked up the shot as if we were going to see his beloved Selena Gomez. I told him which of his friends were getting theirs, too. On the drive, my son punctuated his car-seat dancing with joyful noises.The shot itself was nothing like any other he's received, <a href="https://www.insider.com/what-pediatricians-are-seeing-as-they-vaccinate-more-eligible-children-2021-11">but the pharmacist was ebullient as she pressed</a> a sticker onto his bib that declared his new vaccination status. He danced again the whole drive home.For now, nothing has changed. But soon, he'll be able to snuggle people he hasn't seen in almost two years. I'll feel comfortable traveling for Christmas. If all goes well, in the new year, we'll return to church. In the spring, he'll be able to start playing baseball. I so very badly want all of this and more.

I have a medically complex child. I've been waiting for the day to get him vaccinated, and now I can finally breathe.

New York, May 12 () Children, teens, and young adults are at greater risk for severe complications from COVID-19 than previously thought, according to a study which says those with underlying health conditions are at even greater risk. "The idea that COVID-19 is sparing of young people is just false," said study coauthor Lawrence Kleinman from Rutgers University in the US. According to the study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, children are more likely to get very sick if they have other chronic conditions like obesity. "It is also important to note that children without chronic illness are also at risk. Parents need to continue to take the virus seriously," Kleinman cautioned. The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, is the first to describe the characteristics of seriously ill pediatric COVID-19 patients in North America. In the research, the scientists assessed 48 children and young adults -- from newborns to 21 years old -- who were admitted to pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) in the US and Canada for COVID-19 in March and April. The study noted that more than 80 per cent of the children had chronic underlying conditions, such as immune suppression, obesity, diabetes, seizures, or chronic lung disease. Of these children, 40 per cent depended on technological support due to developmental delays or genetic anomalies, the researchers said. More than 20 per cent experienced failure of two or more organ systems due to COVID-19, they said, adding that nearly 40 per cent required a breathing tube and ventilator. At the end of the follow-up period, about 33 percent of the children were still hospitalised due to COVID-19, the scientists reported in the study. Three of the children still required ventilator support and one of them was still on life support. The study also noted that two of the children admitted during the three-week study period died. "This study provides a baseline understanding of the early disease burden of COVID-19 in pediatric patients," said Hariprem Rajasekhar, a pediatric intensivist involved in conducting the study at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School's Department of Pediatrics. Compared with mortality rates of up to 62 per cent among adults admitted to ICUs for COVID-19, the study noted that the mortality rate for PICU patients is 4.2 per cent. "This early study shows that COVID-19 can result in a significant disease burden in children but confirms that severe illness is less frequent, and early hospital outcomes in children are better than in adults," the scientists wrote in the study. According to Kleinman, doctors are also seeing a new COVID-related syndrome in children. Citing earlier reports, he said children with COVID-19 may be at risk of heart failure, and a condition termed pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome. "Although our data collection for this study has ended, we continue to develop collaborations with colleagues in our region and across the country to try to understand these more severe complications," Kleinman said. VISVIS

You Searched For "picu" and got 8 results

Virus patterns changed in last 6 months, says expert as India reports thousands of H3N2 cases

ANI

I'm a pediatric nurse seeing 50 RSV patients a day. This is what it's like treating inconsolable toddlers with the illness.

Paola Rosa-Aquino

A baby whose anti-vax parents rejected heart surgery over fear of 'blood that is tainted' had the life-saving surgery anyway after a court intervened

Taiyler Simone Mitchell

More children infected with coronavirus than previously thought: Study

PTI

A baby with a heart condition that gave her a 10% chance of surviving birth has beaten the odds. Now, she'll need a second heart surgery at 6 months old.

Jane Ridley

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