CLINICAL AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL PECULIARITIES IF COVID-19 INFECTION IN INFANTS

The aim of the research - to analyze the epidemiological and clinical peculiarities ofcoronavirus disease COVID-19 in infants compared to the older age group.Materials and methods. 188 inpatient cards of children who were hospitalized in theinfectious diseases departments of Chernivtsi Regional Children's Clinical Hospitalwith COVID-19 infection were analyzed, in particular, 63 children under 1 year of age(1st group) and 125 children aged 1 year and older (2nd group, comparison group).A complex of anamnestic, epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19infection was determined in hospitalized children.Results. During the analysis of the data it was found that the epidemiologicalsignificance was related to family contacts, unidentified non-family sources of infectionwere observed in a quarter of infants (25,4%) and 39,2% of children of group II (p 0,05), 30,2% infants had rhinorrhea (16,8% in the 2nd group,p<0,05), while in the comparison group the symptoms from the lower respiratory tractdominated, in particular, cough was significant more often observed (59,2% vs. 26,9%in the 1st group, p<0,05). Lesions of the lower respiratory tract with the development ofpneumonia were significant more common in 32,0% of children in 2nd group and only in8,0% of infants (p<0,05).Conclusions. Epidemiologically, the start of COVID-19 pandemic in Chernivtsi regionwith restrictive quarantine measures was characterized by a predominance of familialinfection and a significant proportion of unexplained extracurricular sources of infectionin children. In most infants with coronavirus disease caused by the new SARS-CoV-2coronavirus, respiratory symptoms were dominated by signs of upper respiratory tractinvolvement.