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In December 2019, the WHO identified a novel coronavirus that leads to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARSCoV- 2). COVID-19, the disease produced by the novel coronavirus, seem to less affect children and cause severe disease compared to adults, being associated with lower case-fatality rates. Asthma and cystic fibrosis (CF) are the most common chronic lung diseases that affect children and adolescents. It is not well established if there is a higher risk of poor outcomes due to infection with SARS-CoV-2. Research that demonstrated that the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor required for coronavirus recognition and infection may be under-expressed in airways of atopic children, led to a paradox that sets asthma as being a protective condition for COVID-19. Patients with CF manifest cytokine dysfunction and chronic inflammation enhanced by the diversity of pathogens in the airways, mechanisms that overlap with the pathophysiology of COVID-19. International data suggest that very few CF patients experienced symptoms and complications due to COVID-19 and, if the disease is milder than anticipated in CF, this could be related to some protection due to the cellular effect of CFTR mutations associated with viral processing. Taken together, asthma and cystic fibrosis, chronic diseases with significant impact on morbidity and mortality in both children and adults, may serve as a model of factors that may mitigate the impact of SARS-CoV-2 and creates opportunities for developing research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world is facing, after a hundred years, a new pandemic – infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Establishing a therapeutic protocol along with paraclinical infection management is the great challenge of the moment for healthcare professionals all around the world. This paper tries to stadialise the diagnosis methods and paraclinical investigations, establishing the time correspondence between this investigations and laboratory also radiological findings. The positive diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection is made by using four methods of testing: RT-PCR molecular method, serological testing by chemiluminescence and ELISA, rapid tests for the determination of IgM and IgG antibodies. Laboratory findings are not disease-specific but studies have shown that lymphopenia occurs in 83% of paediatric hospitalized patients confirmed with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Imaging is not recommended for diagnosis or screening purposes in patients with suspected COVID-19, the predictive value of RT-PCR test is ten times higher than the results of pulmonary CT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]