It has been clear since early in the coronavirus pandemic that children ‒ typically magnets for colds and the flu ‒ weren’t getting very sick from COVID-19. Now, a study suggests the answer lies in their noses.
The study from researchers at Stanford University and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital found the immune systems of younger children typically wipe out the SARS-CoV-2 virus when it arrives in the nose.
In adults, by contrast, the virus that causes COVID-19 generally reaches the bloodstream before the immune system begins to fight back. That allows the virus to cause more havoc in adults.
The findings suggest there may be a way to provide protection for adults by mimicking what is naturally found in children.
Children aren’t just little adults
More than 90% of children age 4 and younger in the U.S. have been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But children under 5, who represent about 6% of the U.S. population, account for far less than 1% of COVID-19 deaths in the country.