Lyon (AFP)
The 9-year-old child who had contracted Covid-19 at Les Contamines-Montjoie in Haute-Savoie did not transmit the virus to anyone in the three schools he attended, according to a study that concludes that children would be little vector of the disease.
It was one of the first outbreaks ("cluster") in France. At the end of January, a Briton returning from Singapore joined compatriots in the ski resort, including a family resident of the resort. In total, it will be responsible for the contamination of twelve people, including a nine-year-old child.
A study, published on April 11 in the journal of the Society of American Infectious Diseases (Clinical Infectious Diseases) and revealed Monday by Liberation, looked into the case of the child, who continued to attend three schools and a ski- club before the health alert is given.
This child had started mild symptoms of this new coronavirus and had a very low viral load eight days after the symptoms started.
After a quick and careful investigation by infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists, it quickly emerged that this young patient was in contact when he was ill with 172 people, including 112 pupils and teachers. The latter had all been placed in quarantine at home since they were considered to be at high risk.
But in the end, this child did not contaminate anyone, not even the other two children of his siblings. On the other hand, other winter viruses such as the flu were detected in a majority of the "contact persons" tested (64%).
This case "suggests that children may not be a significant source of transmission of this new virus" and suggests "a different dynamics of transmission in children", concludes the study. While they are an important vector for other viruses such as the flu for example.
"It is possible that children, because they do not have many symptoms and have a low viral load, transmit little of this new coronavirus", explains to AFP Kostas Danis, epidemiologist at Public Health France and author principal of this study.
© 2020 AFP