Investigators: Chris Blyth, Asha Bowen
External collaborators: Krist Ewe, David Foley
The global impact of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is unprecedented and will remain a global health problem for the foreseeable future. There is an urgent need to understand the spectrum of clinical severity across all age groups and the tranmission dynamics of the pathogen circulating in society. Children who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 tend to show more mild symptoms compared to adults. Severe disease is less frequent in children, although deaths have occurred. The current public health response relies on symptom-driven case detection and infection in children may be missed given the milder symptoms. The role of children in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 remains to be determined.
This project will conduct a community serosurvey to determine the overall impact of COVID-19 on the health of WA children in 2020-2021. The proportion of children who test positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies will be compared to the number of confirmed cases in childen identified from direct diagnostic tests, which will provide an estimate of the infection in the community.
Funding: Perth Children's Hospital Foundation