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.