Yuemei Liu,MD

and 4 more

Objective: To describe the clinical characteristics of Covid-19 in infants during the Omicron variant outbreak in Henan, 2022. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data, epidemiological exposure, and maternal vaccination status of infants infected with Omicron variant admitted to Zhengzhou First People’s Hospital from October 20, 2022 to December 15, 2022. Results: We admitted 21 infants (12 males and 9 females). All had epidemiological exposure in household or nursing institution settings. The most common respiratory manifestations were fever (19 cases), cough (11 cases), and nasal congestion (8 cases). The most frequent gastrointestinal manifestations were anorexia and diarrhea (8 cases each) and vomiting (4 cases). Of the 12 infants who underwent complete blood count, 8 had normal white blood cell counts and 3 had leukopenia. C-reactive protein was normal in 11 cases and mildly elevated in 1 case. Chest CT showed increased lung markings in 7 cases, focal consolidation in 6 cases each, and ground-glass opacities in 5 cases. The mean time to negative conversion was 6.7 days. All 21 infants recovered and were discharged after symptomatic treatment, with a mean length of stay of 11.5 days. Two weeks after discharge, none had recurrence or retested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. We found no correlations between maternal vaccination status and clinical symptoms or SARS-CoV-2 RNA negative conversion time (P>0.05). Conclusion: All Covid-19 infants had epidemiological exposure in household or nursing institution settings. They mostly had mild infection with respiratory and/or gastrointestinal symptoms and a good short-term prognosis.