Young children with coronavirus may carry 10 to 100 times more of virus than adults: study - Fox News

Children under five years of age may harbor up to 100 times as much of the coronavirus in their noses and throats as infected adults and older children, according to a study out of Chicago.

“Our analyses suggest children younger than 5 years with mild to moderate COVID-19 have high amounts of SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA in their nasopharynx compared with older children and adults," the researchers stated in the study published in JAMA Pediatrics on Thursday.

"Young children can potentially be important drivers of SARS-CoV-2 spread in the general population, as has been demonstrated with respiratory syncytial virus, where children with high viral loads are more likely to transmit," they wrote.

The authors stated in the report that although their findings did not prove the children infected with COVID-19 were contagious, other pediatric studies found a correlation between the presence of higher nucleic acid levels with an ability to cultivate the infectious virus.

These groups included: 48 adults, aged 18 to 65, 51 children aged 5 to 17 years, and 46 children under 5 years old.

By the end, the researchers found that "young children have equivalent or more viral nucleic acid in their upper respiratory tract compared with older children and adults," the study authors wrote.