Ebola Virus Disease has ravaged West Africa for more than a year now. A new study by researchers from the Imperial College London in the United Kingdom and the World Health Organization said that this disease is more deadly for children under the age of five years old than for adults.
Dr. Chris Dye, head of the Ebola epidemiology team at the World Health Organization (WHO) said that during the Ebola outbreak, the number of children who were affected increased dramatically. However, the reason why this happens is still unclear.
The researchers sought the answer to their query and compared the data of children under the age of 16 who tested positive for the illness and adults who were infected with the virus.
In the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, it has shown that Ebola is indeed very deadly for children where it has killed 90% of children under one years old and around 80% of children from one to four years old.
Meanwhile, the researchers said that children from ages 10 to 15 years old have around 52% chance of surviving Ebola while those who are 16 years old to 44 years old have around 65% of death rate.
The Ebola disease has resulted in over 24,872 cases and around 10,311 deaths based on the latest report by the World Health Organization. Now, 79 new cases were reported just this week.
The researchers landed in the findings that children below one year old had the shortest incubation period at only 6.9 days while older children had 9.8 days of incubation before the virus will reach its peak of virulence, reported Medical News Today.
Aside from that, children with Ebola have different symptoms than adults because they may have fever but there were less chances of having respiratory problems, dysphagia, hiccups or body pains.
They incurred their findings in order to see how children are affected by the deadly virus. Apparently, they found out that the manifestations in children are more progressive and severe than in adults.
Dr. Robert Fowler, co-author from the University of Toronto, Canada, "There are factors that may explain why young children have worst outcomes from Ebola."
He explains, "One reason could be than young children are dependent on care from others and when their primary caregiver is sick, they are compromised."
Also, he notes the presence of vomiting and diarrhea in Ebola, "This is not different from adults, but children seem to have less reserve and get sick more quickly."
Hence, they recommend children to receive the highest medical care once they are found to have contracted the deadly disease.