Skip to main content
PMC home page
Oxford University Press - PMC COVID-19 Collection logoLink to Oxford University Press - PMC COVID-19 Collection
. 2021 May 5:ciab396. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciab396

SARS-CoV-2 viral load kinetics in symptomatic children, adolescents and adults

Mathilde Bellon 1,2, Stephanie Baggio 3,4, Frederique Jacquerioz Bausch 2,6,7, Hervé Spechbach 7, Julien Salamun 7, Camille Genecand 8, Aglae Tardin 8, Laurent Kaiser 2,5,10, Arnaud G L’Huillier 9,10, Isabella Eckerle 1,2,5,10,✉
PMCID: PMC8135785  PMID: 33949655

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 viral load (VL) can serve as a correlate for infectious virus presence and transmission. Viral shedding kinetics over the first week of illness for symptomatic children (n=279), adolescents (n=639) and adults (n=7109) show VLs compatible with infectious virus presence, with slightly lower VL in children than adults.

Keywords: SARS-CoV2, COVID19, children, viral shedding, virus transmission

Articles from Clinical Infectious Diseases: An Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES