Young children who are infected with Ebola may be more likely to die from the virus than older children or adults who are infected, according to a new study.
In the study, researchers examined
Ebola cases in children younger than 16 during the current outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and compared them with adult cases. They found that the outbreak's death rate has been higher among younger children than among older children and adults.
The disease has killed about 90 percent of infected children under age 1, and about 80 percent of kids ages 1 to 4 who have been infected. Older children who have been infected with Ebola may have a much better chance of surviving....
"The very youngest of children — neonates —appear to have the worst outcomes from Ebola," study co-author Dr. Robert Fowler, an associate professor of critical-care medicine at the University of Toronto, said in a statement. (Neonates, or newborns, are babies younger than 1 month.)
These are western lowland gorillas, one of the great ape species threatened by Ebola. Credit: Copyright 2012 Chris Whittier
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