Experts are Confused Why a Baby With COVID-19 Has More Viral Particles, Resulting in a New COVID Variant

By Joshua Summers First Posted: Feb 24, 2021 10:19 PM EST

SARS-CoV-2 is not backing down amid the roll of the COVID vaccine in the United States as Experts discovered a new variant from a baby with COVID-19, who happen to have more viral particles than other children. Insider reported that the very sick newborn was admitted and treated at Children's National Hospital in Washington D.C.

According to Healthline, every virus mutates as it is part of its life cycle. But when it comes to RNA viruses like measles and flu, Healthline noted RNA viruses are prone to changes and mutations compared with DNA viruses. The National Center for Biotechnology Information reported that CoV is the largest RNA genome of all known RNA viruses, making them susceptible to mutating.

The new variant

Insider points out that the new variant was discovered recently when the researchers sequenced the virus's genome from the infant that was treated in September then recovered. The Insider added that the baby has a viral load of 51,418 times higher than other young patients. Yahoo! News referenced a pre-print study claiming that it is not yet clear how common or how risky the new variant is because their database could find eight other cases. The pre-print study mentioned by Yahoo! News shared that the cases occurred in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region.

The insider also noted that the researchers could discover the latest variant to have a different type of spike protein structure which might make it more infectious and dangerous. Yahoo! News mentioned an interview of the Chief of Infectious Disease for the Children's National Hospital, Roberta DeBiasi, saying that the case with the baby with COVID-19 can be a complete coincidence, adding that the association is pretty strong and firm. DeBiasi noted that if a patient has exponentially more viruses and it is an entirely different variant, it might be related.

Insider added that it is also unclear whether the new variant is the culprit behind many viral particles in the infant's nose.

Children and COVID-19

John Hopkins Medicine shared that children and infants can still get COVID-19. However, the disease seems to be milder in young children. John Hopkins Medicine also mentioned that in rare cases, children might get very sick with COVID-19, and deaths have occurred among the cases. In infants' cases, John Hopkins Medicine explained that pregnant women infected with COVID-19 could pass the disease to their baby and can make the infants become infected shortly after being born.

With the discovery of the latest variant of coronavirus in the baby with COVID-19 with a lot higher viral particles than other kids, parents need to be more careful in taking care of their kids. Although most of the time, pieces of evidence noted that children have milder cases of COVID-19, it is still efficient to practice safety and not let them have it and take risks.