Abstract

The role of children in the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has become a matter of urgent debate as societies in the US and abroad consider how to safely reopen schools. Small studies have suggested higher viral loads in young children. Here we present a multicenter investigation on over five thousand SARS-CoV-2 cases confirmed by real-time reverse transcription (RT) PCR assay. Notably, we found no discernable difference in amount of viral nucleic acid among young children and adults.

Details

Title
Nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 viral loads in young children do not differ significantly from those in older children and adults
Author
Madera Sharline 1 ; Crawford, Emily 2 ; Langelier, Charles 3 ; Tran, Nam K 4 ; Thornborrow Ed 5 ; Miller, Steve 5 ; DeRisi, Joseph L 6 

 University of California, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, San Francisco, USA (GRID:grid.266102.1) (ISNI:0000 0001 2297 6811) 
 Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, USA (GRID:grid.499295.a); University of California San Francisco, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, San Francisco, USA (GRID:grid.266102.1) (ISNI:0000 0001 2297 6811); University of California San Francisco, Department of Medicine and Biochemistry & Biophysics, San Francisco, USA (GRID:grid.266102.1) (ISNI:0000 0001 2297 6811) 
 University of California, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, San Francisco, USA (GRID:grid.266102.1) (ISNI:0000 0001 2297 6811); Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, USA (GRID:grid.499295.a) 
 University of California, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, USA (GRID:grid.27860.3b) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9684) 
 University of California San Francisco, Department of Laboratory Medicine, San Francisco, USA (GRID:grid.266102.1) (ISNI:0000 0001 2297 6811) 
 Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, USA (GRID:grid.499295.a); University of California San Francisco, Department of Medicine and Biochemistry & Biophysics, San Francisco, USA (GRID:grid.266102.1) (ISNI:0000 0001 2297 6811) 
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2486306317
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.