Spectrum and Severity of Clinical Manifestations in Children Suspected of COVID-19 During the Third Wave in Peshawar, Pakistan

Abstract

Background: Covid-19 is novel corona virus, first emerged in Wuhan, China. From China it spread throughout the world and became global pandemic. During the first and second wave of pandemic the ratio of Covid-19 positive children was low and unpredictable as compared to adult population. At the starting of third wave of Covid pandemic the ratio of Covid-19 positive children becomes also high. It drives the researchers to notice the ratio of positive Covid-19 children in third wave.  During the third wave of pandemic the ratio of positive children in Pakistan also rises. In our study we found the clinic epidemiological spectrum and symptoms and its severities in Covid-19 suspected children. We conduct the descriptive cross-sectional study of Covid-19 children in Peshawar, KPK. The study duration was 2 months (from 1^st May to 30 June 2026). We collected data of 493 children who were tested for Covid-19 in tertiary care hospital. We include all children up to 15 years of age of both genders. The data was collected by an approved Questionnaire. The data was analyzed with the help of SPSS and MS Excel. We collected data of 493 tested covid-19 children. Out of 493 children, 26 were Covid-19 positive and 467 were negative. Among 26 positive children, 23 were symptomatic and 3 were asymptomatic. The common symptoms were fever, cough, sore throat, diarrhea, and loss of taste. Mostly these common symptoms were moderate in diagnosed children. Besides these common symptoms some children showed symptoms like chills, runny nose, shortness of breath, Headache, fatigue, abdominal pain, chest pain, joint pain, loss of smell and irritability. According to our study, the ratio of Covid-19 positive was almost 5.27% in Peshawar, KPK. Most of the children were infected by family clustering or close contact with infected patients at home. Some of the positive children were asymptomatic and most of children showed mild to moderate symptoms as compared to adult population.