Approximately 6% of pediatric hospitalizations for influenza in the 2021-22 season SARS-CoV-2 Co-infection, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Findings from surveillance data indicate that the proportion of pediatric patients with co-infections described above is more likely to require respiratory support than those hospitalized with influenza alone. They were also more likely to die from hospitalization.
A team of CDC investigators, led by Katherine Adams MPH of the Influenza Division at the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, analyzed available national data on COVID-19 and influenza-related hospitalizations to interpret the overlapping burden. We conducted transmission and outcomes in pediatric patients in the United States during the 2020–21 influenza season and the COVID-19 pandemic concurrently. The team conducted the assessment from 2022 to her 2023 flu season, when pediatric hospitalizations increased early and SARS-CoV-2 persisted in circulation.
“The current flu season is the first in which the flu virus and SARS-CoV-2 have virtually coexisted,” the investigators wrote. “Both seasonal influenza viruses and SARS-CoV-2 can significantly increase morbidity in children, but co-infection reduces disease severity compared to that associated with infection with only one virus. I don’t know if it will increase.”
The team determined the number of patients under 18 years of age who were hospitalized or died of influenza for each of the three CDC surveillance platforms used during the 2021-2022 influenza season (October 3, 2021 to October 1, 2022). I rated it.
Of the 575 pediatric influenza-related hospitalizations observed, 32 (6%) involved co-infection with SARS-CoV-2. The majority of patients with co-infection (56%) or influenza alone (58%) reported underlying medical conditions (P. = .81). Only 17% of co-infected patients had been vaccinated against seasonal influenza, compared with 42% of those with single influenza (P. = .02).
The researchers also found that a single flu patient (4%; P. = .03). Such a patient was also nearly three times more likely to use his BiPAP or CPAP than a single influenza patient (16% vs. 6%; P. = .05). However, no significant difference was found between the two cohorts in the prevalence of intensive care unit (ICU) admissions.
The team’s data accounted for 44 influenza-related childhood deaths during the 2021-2022 US flu season. Seven (16%) deaths were co-infected with his SARS-CoV-2. Of the deaths for which data are available, 0 of 6 of her co-infected and 5 of 31 (16%) of her of isolated influenza had been vaccinated against seasonal influenza (P. = .57).
The most common health complications among pediatric deaths with coinfection were pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and bronchiolitis.
Cardiomyopathy or myocarditis occurred in 5 of 32 (16%) influenza deaths, and no coinfection occurred (P. = .57).
Although the findings represent only a “small number of cases of co-infection of influenza and SARS-CoV-2,” the researchers said the findings suggest that co-infection among hospitalized children without underlying medical conditions We concluded that not only did we uncover a low frequency, but we also uncovered an increased need for invasive and non-invasive ventilators. among such affected patients.
“These findings also highlight the inadequate use of influenza antiviral drugs and seasonal influenza vaccines, especially among persons under the age of 18 who died from co-infection with influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2. We are doing it,” the researchers wrote.
The team concluded that respiratory virus prevention and mitigation in this co-circulation of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza requires public awareness of the risk of co-infection in children. They added that prevention strategies such as masking and up-to-date vaccination of children should be adopted during the virus season.
“To identify influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 co-infection, clinicians should follow the recommended testing algorithm for patients with symptoms of acute respiratory disease in outpatient, emergency department, and hospital settings. “Clinical guidance for early initiation of antiviral therapy for influenza and SARS-CoV-2 is for patients with suspected or confirmed influenza or SARS-CoV-2 infection (or both),” they wrote. It should be followed for pediatric patients, who are hospitalized, who have severe or progressive disease, or who are at increased risk of complications.”
the study, “Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza co-infection and clinical features in children and adolescents under 18 years of age who are hospitalized or die from influenza—U.S., 2021–22 influenza season,” was published online at the CDC Weekly reports of morbidity and mortality.
