In one of the first cases of its kind during the COVID-19 pandemic, a 3-week-old infant from Texas has successfully been treated for the virus and recovered.
How One Very Ill Infant Survived COVID-19
FRIDAY, May 1, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- A 3-week-old Texas infant in critical condition with COVID-19 was successfully treated and recovered, doctors report.
This is one of the first cases of its kind, according to the team of doctors at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).
They noted that the initial belief that children aren't at risk of serious illness from COVID-19 has been disproved as more information is gathered on the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
"We are still so early in the research and data available on COVID-19, and as providers, we need to be aware that children can get critically ill from this virus," said study first author Dr. Alvaro Coronado Munoz, an assistant professor of pediatric critical care medicine at UTHealth.
"It's important for parents to understand that they should not delay seeking care for their children if there's any presence of fever or trouble breathing," Coronado said in a university news release.
In the team's case report, the child arrived at a hospital with nasal congestion, rapid breathing and heart rate, reduced eating, a temperature of 97 degrees, and low oxygen saturation. The child was transferred to a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), and arrived there with low blood pressure, hypothermia and continued rapid heart rate and breathing.