Should extra precautions be taken for pediatric oncology patients in light of the recent COVID-19 outbreak?

A case report (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32149486) describes severe COVID-19 infection in a pediatric oncology patient.

Have you seen similar severe COVID-19 infections in your pediatric oncology patients?

Trisha Tavares, Banner Pediatric Specialists-Hematology Oncology

Added March 27, 2020

1 person agreed with this answer

I have not personally seen cases. This is not surprising, however, because our patient population is more susceptible to severe outcomes from respiratory infections. This is compounded by weakened immune function and, for some patients, cardio respiratory damage.

Ian Pereira, Kingston General Hospital

Added March 27, 2020

Not much literature in pediatric oncology patients, yet (and hopefully cases will be kept small).

Although I have not had any ped patients recently, newer low-level evidence suggests young children (~<= 5 yrs) may develop more severe symptoms [1] and other studies (including the low-n Lancet article) suggest higher susceptibility to infection. To mitigate this for patients on treatment, some guidelines suggest more strict adherence to social isolation and hand/respiratory hygiene for transmission prevention, which is what I would consider [2,3].

1 Dong Y et al. Epidemiological Characteristics of 2143 Pediatric Patients With 2019 Coronavirus Disease in China. Amer Acad Peds. March 2020.

2 Kotecha R. Challenges posed by COVID-19 to children with cancer. Lancet. March 25, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(20)30205-9

3 https://anzchog.org/covid-19-guidance-for-children-and-young-people-undergoing-cancer-treatment/

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