Infants Younger Than 6 Months Infected With SARS-CoV-2 Show the Highest Respiratory Viral Loads

VALERIA OCHOA; ERRA DÍAZ, FERNANDO; EZEQUIEL RAMIREZ; MARIA CLARA FENTINI; MAURICIO CAROBENE; GEFFNER, JORGE; ARRUVITO, LOURDES; COVID STUDY GROUP; FEDERICO REMES LENICOV

JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES

UNIV CHICAGO PRESS

Año: 2022

0022-1899

There is a paucity of reports on the characteristics of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in infants, because most studies have grouped infants with older children. We analyzed the viral loads of 45318 SARS-CoV-2-positive nasopharyngeal swab samples obtained in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Infants younger than 6 months presented higher viral loads than any other age group. Children older than 6 months showed significantly lower viral loads, similar to those founds in adults. This observation raises new questions regarding the role of infants in the spreading of SARS-CoV-2 infection.