Kids who catch COVID-19 may be less likely than adults to develop antibodies against the virus

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-03-10 03:00

Australia; VIC

Kids who catch COVID-19 may be less likely than adults to develop antibodies against the virus, according to Australian research. The study looked at the development of specific antibodies against the virus in the blood following infection - a process called seroconversion. It found that for those with mild COVID-19, children may be less likely to have seroconversion than adults despite similar viral loads. The study also found that while symptomatic adults had higher antibody levels than asymptomatic adults, the same wasn't true for kids, who had no differences regardless of symptoms. The authors say the findings may mean that children are less protected against COVID-19 infection in the long term compared with adults.

Media release

From: JAMA

Comparison of Seroconversion in Children and Adults With Mild COVID-19

JAMA Network Open

About JAMA Network Open: JAMA Network Open is the new online-only open access general medical journal from the JAMA Network. On weekdays, the journal publishes peer-reviewed clinical research and commentary in more than 40 medical and health subject areas. Every article is free online from the day of publication.

What The Study Did: Researchers compared seroconversion in 57 nonhospitalized children and 51 adults with mild SARS-CoV-2 infection and identified factors associated with seroconversion.

Authors: Paul V. Licciardi, Ph.D., of the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, is the corresponding author.

(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.1313)

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), The University of Melbourne, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity

Funder: This study was supported by funding for the recruitment of participants from The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation (Dr Tosif) and the Infection and Immunity Theme, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute; a Career Development Fellowship from the NHMRC (Dr Licciardi); a Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) centenary fellowship (Dr Pellicci); investigator grants from the NHMRC (Drs Subbarao and Dr Burgner); funding from the Jack Ma Foundation and the A2 Milk Company (Dr Subbarao); the Australian Government Department of Health (MelbourneWorld Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza); the Victorian Government’s Medical Research Operational Infrastructure Support Program; and the National Institute of Health for influenza and COVID-19 research (Drs Curtis and Subbarao).

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