Why do most children with SARS-CoV-2 have a rapid course with mild symptoms? And why are some able to neutralize the virus earlier than others? A possible answer comes from a study by the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital in Rome which identified for the first time the immunological characteristics of children who best react to the new coronavirus infection, managing to eradicate it already after the first week. The research, carried out together with the University of Padua and the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of the Venezie, was published in the scientific journal “Cell Reports”. The study may make it possible in the future to adopt better therapeutic strategies and verify the effectiveness of vaccinations on children.
The audience of the subjects involved in the study
The Child Jesus survey involved 66 patients aged between 1 and 15 hospitalized in the Covid Center in Palidoro (Rome) in the summer of 2020. The research was promoted by the study group “Cactus – Immunological studies in affected children by Covid and acute diseases ”, created by doctors and researchers of the Bambino Gesù hospital university pediatric department in the midst of the health emergency. «Most of the children included in the study were paucisymptomatic at the beginning of the infection, while – underlines the Child Jesus – a week later they were already asymptomatic and clinically cured. Patients with severe conditions such as Mis-c or multisystem inflammatory syndrome did not take part in the study “.
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The advantages of the immunological characteristics
“The laboratory investigations have shown how the immunological profile of the children who already after a week had managed to neutralize the virus, was characterized by a large amount of specific T and B lymphocytes against Sars-CoV-2, capable of reproducing quickly once came into contact with the pathogen and to produce a large number of neutralizing antibodies – the researchers warn -. In children with this particular immunological profile, a very low viral load (less than 5 viral copies per microliter of blood) was found already after one week, such as to effectively cancel their infectious capacity, therefore the possibility of contagion, even in the presence of still a positive swab ». Furthermore, the presence of specific T and B lymphocytes against coronavirus “appears to be related to the exposure of children to other seasonal viruses – observes the research – The patients with the greatest ability to quickly defeat Sars-CoV-2, in fact, were those already in contact, in their clinical history, with a high number of other influenza viruses ». For those in charge of the study, the identification of the immunological characteristics of children capable of rapidly neutralizing the virus will allow in the future to adopt better therapeutic strategies, verify the effectiveness of vaccinations on children and possibly design customized quarantine measures. “In fact, if it were decided to test the children on the basis of their immunological profile, as well as on the positivity to the swab, it could in fact be hypothesized to customize the isolation period before returning to school, potentially reducing it to a week”.
Early intervention and with targeted drugs
The immunological profile identified by the study “can also be used to measure the effectiveness of future vaccination studies in the pediatric setting. It is in fact the same method already used, for example, to verify the successful immunization of the hospital staff of the Infant Jesus following the recent vaccination campaign ”, add the researchers. “In terms of therapies, finally, knowing the particular immunological profile of the individual patient could allow, for those with more severe symptoms, to intervene earlier and with targeted drugs (for example future monoclonal antibodies), to help them more easily defeat the Sars-CoV-2 disease “.