Background The role of children in household transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) remains uncertain. Here, we describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of children with COVID-19 in Catalonia (Spain) and investigate the dynamics of household transmission. Methods Prospective, observational, multicenter study performed during summer and school periods (1 July-31 October, 2020), in which epidemiological and clinical features, and viral transmission dynamics were analyzed in COVID-19 patients <16 years. A pediatric index case was established when a child was the first individual infected within a household. Secondary cases were defined when another household member tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 before the child. The secondary attack rate (SAR) was calculated, and logistic regression was used to assess associations between transmission risk factors and SARS-CoV-2 infections. Results The study included 1040 COVID-19 patients <16 years. Almost half (47.2%) were asymptomatic, 10.8% had comorbidities, and 2.6% required hospitalization. No deaths were reported. Viral transmission was common among household members (62.3%). More than 70% (756/1040) of pediatric cases were secondary to an adult, whereas 7.7% (80/1040) were index cases. The SAR was significantly lower in households with COVID-19 pediatric index cases during the school period relative to summer (p=0.02), and when compared to adults (p=0.006). No individual or environmental risk factors associated with the SAR were identified. Conclusions Children are unlikely to cause household COVID-19 clusters or be major drivers of the pandemic even if attending school. Interventions aimed at children are expected to have a small impact on reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

The incidence of Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus was prospectively evaluated in Catalonia, Spain in patients up to 30 years of age during the period 1987-1990. The population at risk (0-29 years) consisted of 2,690,394 inhabitants (total population of Catalonia 5,978,638). All the cases were independently identified from four sources: endocrinologists, sales of blood glucose monitors and insulin pen injectors, diabetes societies and diabetic summer camps. The degree of ascertainment was 90.1%. The overall observed incidence rate was 10.7 per 100,000 per year, being 11.5 per 100,000 per year in the 0-14 age group. The incidence in males (12.0 per 100,000 per year) was higher than in females (9.3 per 100,000 per year), with a male/female ratio of 1.36/l. The sex differences were only present in cases over 14 years of age. Age specific incidence rates per 100,000 per year were 4.4 (confidence interval 95%: 3.2-5.7) in the age group 0-4, 9.9 (8.5-11.4) in 5-9, 17.5 (15.7-19.4) in 10-14, 11.4 (9.9-13.0) in 15-19, 11.3 (9.7-13.0) in 20-24 and 8.5 (7.2-9.9) in 25-29. There was a seasonal onset pattern, with the highest incidence in winter (December-February). We conclude that the incidence of Type 1 diabetes observed in Catalonia during the period 1987-1990 is higher than that recently reported in other Mediterranean countries. This study offers the first standardized data on Type 1 diabetes incidence in Catalonia, including cases up to 30 years, and contributes to the knowledge of the epidemiology of diabetes in South Europe.

Objective: We describe and analyze the childhood (<18 years) COVID-19 incidence in Catalonia, Spain, during the first 36 weeks of the 2020-2021 school-year and to compare it with the incidence in adults.Methods: Data on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) tests were obtained from the Catalan Agency for Quality and Health Assessment. Overall, 7,203,663 SARS-CoV-2 tests were performed, of which 491,819 were positive (6.8%). We collected epidemiological data including age-group incidence, diagnostic effort, and positivity rate per 100,000 population to analyze the relative results for these epidemiological characteristics.Results: Despite a great diagnostic effort among children, with a difference of 1,154 tests per 100,000 population in relation to adults, the relative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 for <18 years was slightly lower than for the general population, and it increased with the age of the children. Additionally, positivity of SARS-CoV-2 in children (5.7%) was lower than in adults (7.2%), especially outside vacation periods, when children were attending school (4.9%).Conclusions: A great diagnostic effort, including mass screening and systematic whole-group contact tracing when a positive was detected in the class group, was associated with childhood SARS-CoV-2 incidence and lower positivity rate in the 2020-2021 school year. Schools have been a key tool in epidemiological surveillance rather than being drivers of SARS-CoV-2 incidence in Catalonia, Spain.

Influenza is often misdiagnosed in children because of the low sensitivity of clinical diagnosis because of nonspecific signs and symptoms. This can be overcome by using digital immunoassays or rapid molecular diagnostic tests with adequate sensitivity and specificity. When using these tests at the patient care site, antibiotic consumption and number of healthcare consultations were reduced.

Tea is a broadly consumed beverage worldwide that is susceptible to fraudulent practices, including its adulteration with other plants such as chicory extracts. In the present work, a non-targeted high-throughput flow injection analysis-mass spectrometry (FIA-MS) fingerprinting methodology was employed to characterize and classify different varieties of tea (black, green, red, oolong, and white) and chicory extracts by principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares–discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). Detection and quantitation of frauds in black and green tea extracts adulterated with chicory were also evaluated as proofs of concept using partial least squares (PLS) regression. Overall, PLS-DA showed that FIA-MS fingerprints in both negative and positive ionization modes were excellent sample chemical descriptors to discriminate tea samples from chicory independently of the tea product variety as well as to classify and discriminate among some of the analyzed tea groups. The classification rate was 100% in all the paired cases—i.e., each tea product variety versus chicory—by PLS-DA calibration and prediction models showing their capability to assess tea authentication. The results obtained for chicory adulteration detection and quantitation using PLS were satisfactory in the two adulteration cases evaluated (green and black teas adulterated with chicory), with calibration, cross-validation, and prediction errors below 5.8%, 8.5%, and 16.4%, respectively. Thus, the non-targeted FIA-MS fingerprinting methodology demonstrated to be a high-throughput, cost-effective, simple, and reliable approach to assess tea authentication issues.