BACKGROUND The objective of our study was to measure and give insight into the seropositivity of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the patients in our pediatric hospital surgical unit in Pakistan. METHODS A prospective cohort study was conducted at a tertiary care pediatric hospital surgical unit in Pakistan between 1 January 2021 and 1 June 2021 on the enrolled neonates and children aged 1 day to 13 years. All patients from three different pediatric strata [neonates (<1 month), infants (1 to 12 months) and children (>1 year)] were enrolled in the study. RESULTS Six-hundred patients were enrolled, and 426 patients were included in the study. Among 426 patients, 234 (54.9%) were male, and 192 (45.1%) were female. Overall only 118 (27.7%) patients developed symptoms. The other 308 (72.3%) were asymptomatic of which 28 (9.1%) had fever, 28 (9.1%) had cough, 38 (12.33%) had body aches, 292 (94.8%) had vomiting/diarrhea, and only 28 (9.1%) developed loss of smell and taste. Our results showed seropositivity of 27.7% (n = 118), while 72.3% (n = 308) had negative antibody titers. CONCLUSION A much higher pediatric SARS-CoV-2 burden of 27.7% was found in our pediatric surgical unit than has previously been reported in the literature of 6.8% for children in pediatric hospitals or pediatric surgical units. Contrary to reporting early in the COVID-19 pandemic, this study determined that children experience a significant burden of COVID-19 infection. Thus, children appear very important in SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, from harboring the virus and further studies need to be done to find if they are transmitting the disease silently.

中文翻译：

---

儿科医院外科病房 SARS-CoV-2 抗体的血清阳性率：中低收入国家的视角。

背景 我们研究的目的是测量并深入了解我们巴基斯坦儿科医院外科病房患者的抗 SARS-CoV-2 抗体血清阳性情况。方法 2021 年 1 月 1 日至 2021 年 6 月 1 日期间，在巴基斯坦一家三级儿科医院外科病房对入组的新生儿和 1 天至 13 岁儿童进行了一项前瞻性队列研究。来自三个不同儿科阶层的所有患者[新生儿（<1 个月）、婴儿（1 至 12 个月）和儿童（>1 岁）] 均纳入该研究。结果 600 名患者入组，其中 426 名患者纳入研究。426 例患者中，男性 234 例（54.9%），女性 192 例（45.1%）。总体而言，只有 118 名 (27.7%) 患者出现症状。其余308人（72.3%）无症状，其中28人（9.1%）有发烧症状，28人（9.1%）有咳嗽症状，38人（12.33%）有身体疼痛，292人（94.8%）有呕吐/腹泻，只有28人（94.8%）有呕吐/腹泻症状。 9.1%）出现嗅觉和味觉丧失。我们的结果显示，血清阳性率为 27.7% (n = 118)，而 72.3% (n = 308) 的抗体滴度为阴性。结论 我们的儿科外科病房中发现的儿科 SARS-CoV-2 负担为 27.7%，远高于文献报道的儿科医院或儿科外科病房儿童的 6.8%。与 COVID-19 大流行早期的报告相反，这项研究确定儿童承受着 COVID-19 感染的重大负担。因此，儿童在 SARS-CoV-2 大流行中显得非常重要，因为他们携带病毒，需要进行进一步的研究以确定他们是否在悄悄传播疾病。