Who shows evidence of past SARS-CoV-2 infection?
An interesting article by Silvia Stringhini and others published in The Lancet June 2020 assessed the burden of COVID-19 within a population of Geneva.
They found that children between the age of 5 and 9 and those aged 65 or older were less likely than adults under the age of 65 to show evidence of COVID-19 infection. Only 1 out of the 123 children looked at aged 5 to 9 tested, positive although 21 of them lived within a household with a member who had COVID-19 antibodies. There were 369 patients aged 65 or older and of these 11 lived with a person who had COVID-19 antibodies and only 15 tested positive.
They concluded that this low prevalence in children suggested that they might be less susceptible to infection and that the low prevalence in the elderly might stem from less exposure to the virus and satisfactory shielding and quarantine and also an ageing immune response. They felt that these results would inform countries considering the easing of restrictions aimed at curbing transmission.
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