Drosten: Corona study on children revised
Christine Albert studied German linguistics and literature as well as Scandinavian studies at the Albert Ludwigs University in Freiburg. She is currently doing a traineeship at Hubert Burda Media and is writing, among other things, for
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.A study by Christian Drosten has been causing a stir since the end of April. It's about the transmission of the coronavirus through children. After criticism, Drosten presented a revised version.
In a revised version of its study on the infectiousness of children in the corona crisis, the research team led by the Berlin virologist Christian Drosten is sticking to its basic statement. There is no evidence that children are not as contagious as adults with regard to Sars-CoV-2, according to the updated version of the study. It has not yet appeared in a peer-reviewed journal, but has been published as a so-called preprint.
Unrestricted opening of schools and kindergartens?
A first draft of the study was published at the end of April and had provoked criticism and sometimes heated arguments. The statement back then: Children carry just as high a viral load as adults - and are therefore probably just as contagious. Based on these results, the researchers warned against the unrestricted opening of schools and kindergartens in Germany. The new version states: "The unrestricted opening of these facilities should be carefully monitored with the help of preventive diagnostic tests."
Above all, there was criticism of the statistical analysis of the data. The methods used are not suitable, according to scientists, among other things. However, the critics later emphasized that such discussions were normal in science and that criticism of the method did not necessarily call the result into question. Drosten admitted that the statistical methods were rather crude, but stuck to the study's statement.
After criticism now praise
"In the new version of the study, the comments that were made on the statistical analysis of the first version are, from my point of view, convincingly incorporated," said Christoph Rothe, statistician from the University of Mannheim at the request of the German Press Agency after an initial review of the revised version Results. He was among the researchers who criticized the statistical methods used in the original analysis.
Alexander Kekulé from the University Hospital Halle (Saale) also praised the revised version. "I think the new job is very good," said Kekulé in the MDR Aktuell podcast. It also provides new interesting results that could now be used by politics. Kekulé had previously also expressed criticism of the original version of Drosten's study, whereupon the two researchers had a media exchange.
The statistician Dominik Liebl from the University of Bonn, who had also dealt with the first version of the Drosten study, wrote in response to a dpa request: In his opinion, the methodological part of the statistical analysis in the new version has been significantly improved. And Liebl adds: "The new version of the preprint will certainly continue to be discussed in academia, and that is a good thing."
Virus quantity sufficient for infection
In the presented revision, the team analyzed the data from a total of 3,303 Sars-CoV-2 infected people. They found in 29 percent of the children of kindergarten age (0 to 6 years), in 37 percent of the children between 0 and 19 years and in 51 percent of the over 20-year-olds an amount of virus that is probably sufficient for an infection. The differences between the groups could also be due to different application of the tests. "We conclude that a significant proportion of infected people of all ages - including those with no or mild symptoms - carry a viral load that is likely to be infectious." (approx / dpa)
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