95% of children with oncological diseases fully recover from coronavirus, according to research

Patients, including children, with oncological diseases are at a special risk group in terms of COVID-19. But a new study by German researchers shows that 95% of children oncological diseases have completely recovered from the coronavirus.

According to Medportal.ru, researchers at Goethe University studied the oncological diseases and medical records of 131 children—from ten countries—until the age of 19 with confirmed COVID-19. Some of them had earlier undergone bone marrow stem cell transplants.

About a third of these infected children had no symptoms of COVID-19, 47% had a mild condition, 8% had a moderate condition, 4% had a severe condition, and 9% had a critical condition. In general, the symptoms of the disease did not differ from the symptoms of COVID-19 in healthy children. Hospitalization was required for 37%, and four died. In 95% of the cases, however, the children recovered successfully.

In all severe cases, concomitant infections—mainly bacterial—were found in these children. In addition, the leukocyte count of these patients was considerably lower than normal, which means that the immune system is unable to fight the virus.

In one third of the cases, chemotherapy was put off in the children who were still receiving treatment. But that postponement did not have a significant impact on the risk of severe complications. There was no difference the final clinical images of the patients still receiving treatment and of those who have completed this treatment.

The study also showed that most of these children were infected by family members, not in the hospital. All this indicates that the relatives of such patients should be more careful about preventive measures, including vaccination.

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