Introduction
Pediatric cases represent a small part (from 1% to 5%) of COVID-19 cases reported worldwide1. This is mainly linked to the fact that infected children present asymptomatic or pauci-symptomatic forms and therefore aren’t tested/counted, and/or are less infected given perhaps the lower expression level of ACE2 in their nasal mucosa2. Moreover severe forms and deaths are rare in pediatrics1.
As of now the global register of pediatric oncology patients of St Jude’s Hospital in partnership with the international society of paediatric oncology (SIOP) lists 137 cases of COVID-19 in 22 different countries3. We know that patients with malignancies under treatment or not are a fragile immunosuppressed population more susceptible to viral infections and more likely to present severe forms. Very little data is available on pediatric oncology patients with COVID-19 and the specific risks for patients in pediatric oncology wards are not well known yet. So far no concerning reports have emerged from countries that have been facing the COVID-19 epidemic such as China, Spain, Italy and US 4–7.Only France reported five severe forms on 33 infected patients nationaly8.
In this report, we describe the complete clinical course and follow-up data of a pediatric patient infected with SARS-CoV-2 three months after having underwent Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT) for acute myeloid leukemia.