According to the national public health agency in France, the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is more transmissible for children. On the other hand, it does less damage to them. In addition, the wave relating to this strain has led to an outbreak of infections. However, it did not cause an increase in cases of severe form among the youngest.
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At the end of March 2022, Public Health France (SPF) presented its latest findings on serious illnesses. This document presents data on follow-ups of cases of pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndromes (PIMS) at one semester. According to the establishment during these monitorings, few side effects have appeared despite an initial pathology that can be worrying. It is also conceivable that the medical symptoms of PIMS relating to the Omicron variant are milder, he said.
Pediatrician at the Robert-Débré University Hospital (AP-HP), François Angoulvant maintains that there was no element to anticipate this phenomenon. The health crisis, the world is undergoing it like bad weather, he insisted.
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Omicron causes less PIMS than previous variants
However, it is observed that in adults, serious cases due to Omicron are few. This observation is true even in the non-vaccinated.
In addition, pediatricians have reported to SPF 1,005 cases of PIMS linked to SARS-CoV-2 since its appearance. This figure should have some impact on the level of recourse to a insurance comparator health. Between 2020-2022, almost four out of ten young patients had to be placed in a critical care unit (39%). For his part, a child lost his life because of this complication. François Angoulvant indicated that given the very high number of infections during the fifth wave among children, and:
[…] What was observed during the 4th wave, it was to be feared an increase in the number of cases of PIMS much higher than that which was observed. But a clear decrease in the incidence of PIMS has been observed since week 08 [début mars].
More good news: Omicron generated approximately 10 times less PIMS than early variants .
It should be noted that the risk of developing PIMS was around 1 in 4,000 with the strains:
- Alpha ;
- Beta;
- Gamma ;
- Delta ;
- Etc.
The infectiousness of Omicron is the same for all age groups
The Omicron surge of January 2022 has often been thought to be favored by children. François Angoulvant admits that this wave has proved to be largely more transmissible than the previous ones . Nevertheless, he nuances, this greater contagiousness has been observed in all age categories:
[…] I don’t believe he has a greater tropism for children than for adults. Omicron’s explosion starts during the Christmas school holidays, it’s clear on the curves.
Looking at the official statistics, we see that child hospitalizations for SARS-CoV-2 have increased since August 2021. A month during which the majority of contamination was carried by the variant Delta. Regarding hospitalizations, the peak was recorded in January 2022. Since then, they have decreased until April 7. This despite a small rise with the upsurge in infections over the previous two weeks.
François Angoulvant clarified that this peak does not denote that Omicron was more dangerous. Hospitalizations of children have jumped due to the rise in infections, he pointed out. According to him, the majority of the youngest will develop an almost asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2.
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