Follow up of aerobic capacity in children affected by severe acute respiratory syndrome.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the aerobic capacity of children 3 years after they were diagnosed with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). METHODS: Twenty-seven patients who completed both pulmonary function and maximal aerobic capacity tests at 6 and 15 months after the acute illness were invited to return for reassessment. RESULTS: Twenty-one patients (median age 18.2 years, interquartile range (IQR) 16.5-19.7) completed all investigations at 36 months. Pulmonary function was normal in all patients. Maximal aerobic capacity, peak oxygen pulse (peak VO(2) ) and ventilatory anaerobic threshold showed significant improvements compared with values measured at 6 months in both boys and girls. In girls, ventilatory efficiency (ventilatory equivalents for oxygen and carbon dioxide) and perfusion of the lungs (end-tidal partial carbon dioxide pressure) had not increased further compared with the values measured at 15 months. Although peak VO(2) improved further at 36 months in patients with or without persistent radiological abnormalities, the values were 68% (IQR 50-84) and 74% (IQR 60-99), respectively, of those for normal control subjects. CONCLUSIONS: There were improvements in aerobic capacity at 36 months in children affected by SARS; however, the measured values remained suboptimal.

SARS in newborns and children.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a highly contagious infection caused by a newly discovered strain of coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Infants born to pregnant women with SARS did not appear to acquire the infection through vertical transmission. Some newborn infants, however, developed severe intrauterine growth retardation and life-threatening gastrointestinal complications. It is now known that the clinical course and prognosis are different between paediatric and adult SARS patients. Young children (< 12 years), in general, run a less aggressive clinical course than do teenage and adult patients. Thus far, no fatalities have been reported in the paediatric age group (< or =18 years). This review describes the current understanding of the clinical manifestations, diagnostic tests, immunological profiles, patient management and outcomes of SARS-CoV infection in the paediatric population.

A young infant with severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a new contagious respiratory disease associated with a novel coronavirus, has spread worldwide and become a global health concern after its first outbreak in Guangdong Province of the People's Republic of China in November 2002. The clinical presentation and the radiologic, hematologic, biochemical, and microbiologic findings of a 56-day-old male infant with SARS are described. Some clinical and laboratory features are similar to those reported in adult and pediatric patients. However, this infant had a more severe clinical course as compared with the older children. This is the youngest patient with symptomatic SARS reported to date.