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A 13 year old boy in London is reportedly the youngest person to have died of COVID-19 in the UK.
Dr Julian Tang, Associate Professor of Respiratory Sciences at the University of Leicester, said:
“Tragically we are going to see some cases of otherwise healthy individuals dying from COVID-19, as the infection and disease progresses.
“COVID-19 is mostly immune-mediated, which means that disease in the body results from the activity of the immune system, so young healthy people with good immune systems can also end up with severe disease.
“For elderly people and older adults with underlying health conditions, COVID-19 induced immune-mediated disease can unfortunately tip the balance of their existing conditions into catastrophic failure. Although their immune system responses may be weaker, it may still be enough for the body’s immune response to the virus to cause disease that is sadly difficult to recover from.”
Dr Vanessa Sancho-Shimizu, Research Fellow in the Dept of Paediatric Infectious Diseases & Virology, Imperial College London, said:
“This is devastating news and our thoughts go out to the family. This highlights that however exceedingly rare this may be, statistics means nothing when it affects those close to you, and that there is no room for complacency in this pandemic.
“At the same time, this is an opportunity to understand what went wrong so that we can better understand the disease which can provide unprecedented insight into how we control infection. Studying these rare and severe outcomes of infection has been used to further our understanding of many other life-threatening infections of childhood. This knowledge can then inform new avenues for treatment and or prevention of severe disease.”
Dr Simon Clarke, Associate Professor in Cellular Microbiology, University of Reading, said:
“Any premature death is tragic news, but the death of any child is particularly sad and the first death of a child in the UK following a positive test for COVID19 is particularly significant. The lesson from countries such as China is that while the old are much more likely to die from coronavirus infection, the young are certainly not immune from it. Children can catch the virus, and while they are more likely to have mild symptoms, they can still pass it on to others who are more vulnerable. In rare cases, they can also get seriously ill, or die.
“This is a reminder that we must take the advice of health officials seriously to stay at home, wash hands, and keep well away from all other people. The message so far has seemed to be that by following the guidance, you might save the life of a cherished parent or grandparent. This case could yet remind us that staying home could also save the life of a cherished child or grandchild too.”
Dr Nathalie MacDermott, NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer, King’s College London, said:
“It is very sad to hear of the death of a 13-year-old infected with COVID-19. While we know it is much less likely for children to suffer severe COVID-19 infection than older adults, this case highlights the importance of us all taking the precautions we can to reduce the spread of infection in the UK and worldwide.
“While it is reported this boy did not have any underlying conditions and was thought to be otherwise healthy, it is important that a coroner assesses whether a post-mortem is necessary to further understand the exact cause of death. While chronic underlying medical conditions are known to result in worse outcomes in COVID-19 infection, we have heard of cases of younger individuals with no known medical problems succumbing to the disease.
“It is essential that we undertake research to determine why a proportion of deaths occur outside of the groups expected to succumb to infection as it may indicate an underlying genetic susceptibility of how the immune system interacts with the virus. Determining if this is the case could help us to learn more about the interaction of the virus with the immune system and subsequently what further treatments may be suitable in patients with severe infection.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52114476
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