Covid-19 Infection and Transmission in Children

 In the early days of Covid-19 it was thought that children might be more susceptible to catching the virus and more likely to spread it, as is the case with flu. However, the evidence from many countries is that it appears that this is not the case.

• Children have a very low risk of becoming ill if they catch Covid-19.
• A study of 55,000+ patients found that just 0.8% were under the age of 19.
• At 31 July 2020, those admitted to critical care units in England, Wale and Northern Ireland were 60 or older. More than three-quarters (75%) were over 50, and fewer than 10% were younger than 40.
• Children often have a 'milder disease than adults'. Although cases of an inflammatory syndrome have been reported, this is extremely rare.
• August 2020. There is some evidence that infected children present with gastric symptoms such as diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal cramps. A US study of 992 children revealed 68 had virus antibodies. Of the 68, around a third (21) had fever, and nearly a quarter (13) had gastric symptoms. 

This finding is replicated across the globe.

• China: none of the infections in family groups were likely to have been introduced by children.
• French Alps: children testing positive did not pass it on to anyone of the more than 100 people they had had contact with.
• Community studies in Iceland, South Korea, Italy (which tested 70% of its population) and the Netherlands all found evidence that children were less likely to have (or have had) the virus than adults.

One theory is that as children are still developing physically, their lungs have fewer ACE2 receptors (which the virus uses to infect people) than adults.

On the issue of school opening, it is thought that any spread is more likely among the staff and among parents at the school gate.

Source. Article in New Scientist, July 2020 plus other later news items.

Why Teens Put on Excess Weight

A rise in obesity in adolescents may be down to a sharp drop in the amount of calories they burn while resting. A 10 year study in the International Journal of Diabetes found energy used at rest was 25% lower in 15-year-olds compared with when they were 10 - a fall of 500 calories a day. This is equivalent to cutting out an hour's strenuous exercise every day.

Most of the energy we burn is just to keep our bodies ticking over - using the brain, heart, liver and kidneys - rather than through physical activity.

The study found that the number of calories the children burned at rest fell sharply during puberty, even though this is a period of rapid growth, which usually uses up lots of calories. It was only around the age of 16 that the number of calories burned at rest started to rise again. During puberty there was also a noticeable drop in the amount of exercise, particularly among girls.

With about a third of school children aged 10-11 in England overweight or obese, the challenge is how to address the issue. Researchers said that the findings showed there was an even greater need to improve children's diets and protect them from the heavy marketing of junk food and sugary drinks.

"Last month's government strategy on childhood obesity confirmed the duty on sugary drinks, but was otherwise a disastrous missed opportunity. We need much tougher regulation around the marketing of junk food to children - particularly on TV and online."

BBC News item: Calorie burn fall 'could explain obesity rise' 8th Sept. 2016.

Hyperactivity

The symptoms of ADHD in children and teenagers are well defined, and they are usually noticeable before the age of six. They occur in more than one situation, such as at home and at school. They are inattentiveness, and hyperactivity and impulsivenes.

ADHD is a developmental disorder; it is believed that it cannot develop in adults without it first appearing during childhood. However, it is known that symptoms of ADHD often persist from childhood into a person's teenage years, and then adulthood. Any additional problems or conditions experienced by children with ADHD, such as depression or dyslexia, may also continue into adulthood.

By the age of 25, an estimated 15% of people diagnosed with ADHD as children still have a full range of symptoms, and 65% still have some symptoms that affect their daily lives.
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder/Pages/Symptoms.aspx

Diet appears to be a factor for some: problem foods are often chocolate, oranges, tomatoes and milk. A study used an exclusion diet for 2 to 3 weeks, then added one food at a time to identify allergens. When this was tried on juvenile delinquents, their behaviour improved dramatically, police records showed a decrease in criminal behaviour and those that returned to crime had stopped using the diet.

Swedish research indicates the striatum of the brain does not seem to work well in this type of child. Giving amphetamines (a stimulant) or similar drugs can paradoxically have a calming effect by stimulating the striatum. Psychotherapy can work for some.

Source not recorded, date not known

Search Engine for Children

Finding a good search engine for children can be a struggle but here is one that seems better than most to Phil Bradley.

Kiddle (http://kiddle.co/) works by filtering results by site and word. They try to ensure that the first three results have been chosen by their editors, the next few pull results from content on safe and trusted sites that are written to appeal to children. [The rest of the sites come from Google safe search, so while they may not be appropriate in language, there should be no inappropriate sites.]

It uses big thumbnails on its results page and a large Arial font.

Google adverts are displayed as well but these seem to have been vetted.

Inappropriate content seems to be screened out by blocking certain words, but this inadvertently also blocks terms children may search for (e.g. blue tits).

Information presented is of good quality and appropriate for children to learn from. The results of a search on 'how to self harm' addressed the issue sensibly and from the viewpoint of not harming.

While sexual terminology is blocked, there appears to be no block on words such as 'murder', 'shooting', 'bombing', 'revolver' and 'handgun' (though 'gun' itself was blocked).

There are search options for the web, images, news and videos.

The content seems to be for age 10 and above - but you should check this out yourself.

Phil Bradley in CILIP Update, February 2016