KATHMANDU: Diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal cramps in children could be a sign of coronavirus infection, said UK researchers.
The Queen’s University Belfast team has been studying children and said this may be worth adding to the checklist of symptoms.
Currently, the officially recognized symptoms in the UK are a fever, cough and loss of smell or taste.
Anyone with any of these should isolate and get tested for the virus.
The US Centers for Disease Control already listed nausea or vomiting and diarrhea among possible Covid-19 symptoms.
In the trial, nearly 1,000 children had their blood tested to see if they had recently caught coronavirus.
The results, published as a pre-print at medRxiv, revealed 68 of the 992 children had antibodies to the virus, suggesting they had been infected with Sars-Cov-2 at some point.
Half of those who tested positive reported having symptoms.
Fever was the most common – reported by 21 of the 68 children who tested positive for coronavirus antibodies.
Cough was also common but less specific, being reported as commonly by children who tested negative as those who tested positive.
Gastrointestinal symptoms – such as diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal cramps – were reported by 13 of the 68 children who tested positive for antibodies, and appeared to be significantly associated with coronavirus infection.
Loss of smell or taste was less common – reported by six of the children with antibodies.
None of the children in the study was seriously ill or needed to be admitted to hospital. (With inputs from Agencies)
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