May 02, 2003
SARS less severe in young children
The study and observation shows that children with SARS are less infectious and having milder symptoms than adults. In the report of New Scientist, paediatrician Tai Fai Fok said:
"They tend to have all kinds of viral infections," he told New Scientist. "Antibodies may cross react with the SARS virus giving some kind of protection."
The second hypothesis is that the children were spared because their immune systems are still only developing. "In adults much of the lung damage in SARS is due to the body's own immune reaction to the virus," Fok says. However, he stresses that both hypotheses are purely speculative at the moment.
This might relieve a bit the worry of most parents.