Long Covid Kids Research Update 14th May 2021

It has been a busy week for research in Long Covid, with the UKRI/NIHR second round of funding bids due in on Wednesday. We are aware of a growing number of researchers interested in paediatric cohorts, so we wait to find out who is funded and look ahead to more research.

In terms of current research, we have noted some very positive advances, with the pre-print on the immunological profiles in children with Long Covid by Buensenso et al (2021) showing that there are significant immunologic differences between children that completely recovered from acute infection and those with Long Covid, thus providing the first objective laboratory sign of the existence of Long Covid in children. Clearly, with a small sample of 29 (12 with LC and 17 without) there need to be much larger studies to generalise the findings, but this is an important step towards understanding some of the mechanisms and confirming that they apply to children. Having an ongoing collaboration with Dr Danilo Buensenso, Long Covid Kids want to show appreciation for his tireless commitment to this as yet under-researched area.

This week has also shown the increasing rise in the new variant ‘Indian’ strain of the virus, which is now the dominant strain in a number of areas. We are also currently approaching the next part of the roadmap out of lockdown, which will see pubs and restaurants opening indoors and six people or two households able to again mix indoors. According to latest information, people will be allowed to hug each other once again, the ban on overseas holidays will lift for "green list" countries, overnights stays will be allowed, face masks will no longer be needed in secondary school classrooms, university students will return to in-person teaching, and cinemas and theatres will be able to reopen (Telegraph).

These facts are troubling in light of the fact that children remain unvaccinated, as we are now increasingly aware that they are not – as previously believed – unaffected by the virus. Unfortunately, this is still not a clear message.

The research pre-print released this week by Spector et al. (2021) seems to be reassuring; a very large sample of children (258,790) whose data were reported between March 2020 and February 2021. Only 4.4% had illness duration greater than 28 days, and most were recovered by day 56. However, on closer inspection the exclusion criteria meant that children with relapsing-remitting symptoms of greater than one week were not included. In light of the findings from our survey of children in the LongCovidKids group (Buensenso et al. 20201), which showed 49.4% had periods of apparent recovery and then symptoms returning, and 19% had a prolonged period of wellness followed by symptoms. With this in mind, the study presented by the Spector app team has serious limitations.