24 March 2020
It's incorrect to say that children and adolescents are 'barely susceptible' to COVID-19, comments microbiologist

They can be carriers with less severe symptoms.

Pavel Zelenikhin, Senior Research Associate at the Pathogenesis Markers Lab, told our journalists about mask wearing and complications of the novel coronavirus. It’s currently widely known, that persons aged 60+ are most susceptible to complications.

 “However, you cannot say that children and adolescents are less susceptible to COVID-19. They can be carriers, they can be sick, but with the least risk of complications, unlike seniors. They’ll have the same symptoms: fever, rhinitis, dry cough, sneezing, sometimes diarrhea, muscle pain, breathing deficiency, and headache,” says Zelenikhin.

Unlike many other viruses, the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is more likely to lead to viral pneumonia, especially in 60-plus-year-olds. This leads to a need for lung ventilators. Other respiratory diseases can also lead to viral pneumonia, but not as often.

As we’ve recently shared, Kazan Federal University had joined the search for a COVID-19 vaccine. About five months are needed for genetic synthesis, validation, and animal testing.

“Dozens of candidate vaccines are being tested in the world currently,” adds Zelenikhin. “The cycle from production to application is very lengthy. A vaccine must lead to persistent immunity, be absolutely safe, that is to say, to lead to a minimum of complications. The evaluation can take up no less than a year. It’s worth paying attention to other antiviral drugs already proven effective against other RNA viruses. Medications stifling the replication of RNA viruses, such as HIV and hepatitis C, may be effective against COVID-19. Such medications have been researched at KFU on the basis of enzymes of bacterial ribonucleases, and they showed effectiveness against such RNA viruses as rabies and hoof-and-mouth disease. In 2016, RNase was also successfully tested on coronaviruses - HCoV-22E and MERS.”

As for face masks, they can be used effectively under some conditions, says the expert, “Firstly, they must be used by everyone; secondly, they should be mandatory for those exhibiting symptoms of respiratory illnesses. And thirdly, a mask must be used correctly and changed every 2 – 3 hours.”

 

Source text: Rufina Gimaletdinova

Translation: Yury Nurmeev

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