When pathogens are introduced to the human body, they encounter the innate immune system. This is the body’s defense aimed at fighting infections. The cells within the immune system are responsible for responding against any foreign invaders immediately.
There is the adaptive immune system. Instead of acting immediately, it takes time to learn how to recognize some pathogens. This means that it could take longer before starting the fight as well.
If a child is exposed to the 2019 COV and he or she happens to have a strong innate immune response, it is possible that they can be able to fight the infection better compared to adults. This causes such a child to exhibit mild symptoms.
The pattern has been seen with other coronaviruses that have hit the world in the past. The new coronavirus from China is affecting children and they are showing some symptoms even though they are very mild. Most of the children are diagnosed with viral pneumonia. This means that they have infected fluid within the lungs. This could be because the immune system of children is quite robust and therefore does not show the virus the way it is seen in adults.
In cases like chickenpox, the likelihood of an adult dying after infection is around 25 times higher compared to children. The flu can be rather devastating for kids. However, when they are older, children trend to make it through the infections so much easier compared to adults.
It is not clear how many children have the coronavirus since it was discovered in China. The information is changing rapidly. With mild symptoms, there are people who do not get coronavirus infection confirmation.
