Africa: Why Do Some Children Become Seriously Ill With Covid? the Answer May Lie in Their Genes

What the report says

Researchers writing in The Conversation Africa and republished by AllAfrica say most children infected with SARS-CoV-2 have mild or no symptoms, but a small number develop serious illness that can require hospital care. The article says the reasons for this difference have been unclear, and that a new study offers clues about how the immune system may respond in severe cases.

The study examined blood gene-expression profiles from 333 South African children with similar genetic backgrounds. According to the article, the group included healthy children, children with mild or asymptomatic COVID, children hospitalized with severe COVID, and children hospitalized with other respiratory infections such as RSV and pulmonary tuberculosis. The analysis found thousands of genes behaving differently in severe respiratory illness, including changes linked to immune response pathways.

The authors report stronger neutrophil activity, increased interferon-gamma signaling, and higher proportions of macrophages in children with severe infections, alongside lower proportions of T cells. Some immune patterns also appeared across COVID, RSV and tuberculosis, suggesting shared defenses against serious lung infections, while other gene patterns looked disease-specific. The article says 82 genes could help distinguish severe from mild or asymptomatic COVID, although the findings are presented as an early research step rather than a clinical test.

The study’s broader significance is that gene-expression signatures may eventually help identify children at higher risk of severe respiratory disease and support more targeted diagnosis and treatment. The authors caution that these results still need validation in larger groups before they could be used in practice.