Clinical Manifestation of digestive problems among children with COVID-19: a Review
Septi Wardani

Fakultas Ilmu Kesehatan, Universitas Muhammadiyah Magelang

Abstract

Digestive problems are one of the main symptoms in children suffering from Covid-19. This literature review is to describe the clinical manifestations of digestive problems in children infected with SARS-Cov-2. The literature search used two databases, PubMed and ScienceDirect, with the keywords children, Covid 19, digestive problems. The focus for selecting articles is original research, in English and published from 2019 to 2021, with the criteria of children, MIS-C, comorbidities and having digestive problems. The results of the literature review showed that children suffering from Covid-19, aged 0-16 years, were hospitalized because they had MIS-C and had comorbidities. The main clinical manifestations of digestive problems that appear are nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Diarrhea occurs due to direct viral attack on the digestive tract, as evidenced by the detection of viral nucleocapsid proteins in intestinal epithelial cells. This literature review shows that the main clinical manifestation related to digestive disorders in children infected with the corona virus is diarrhea. From diarrhea, it is very possible for the virus to spread through feces. Apart from nasopharyngeal swab examination, it is necessary to consider a rectal swab to determine RT PCR from fecal specimens.

Keywords: children, covid 19, clinical manifestations of digestive problems

Topic: Medicine & Health Sciences