Forget colorful leaves. Any caregiver knows that the real signs of fall are kids with coughs, sneezes and sniffles.
Autumn marks the start of respiratory virus season, when colds, flu and other bugs start circulating — especially among the very young.
A recent study confirmed what many families intuitively know: The littlest students harbor the most germs.
Children in pre-kindergarten and elementary school showed highest rates of virus detection compared with older students and staff, according to research published in the journal Pediatrics.
“Young children can have up to 10 respiratory viruses a year as their immune systems are introduced to different infections for the first time,” said Dr. Jennifer Goldman, a pediatrician at Children’s Mercy hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, who co-led the study.
Goldman and her colleagues analyzed nasal swabs and symptom reports from more than 800 students and staff in a large school district in Kansas City from November 2022 to May 2023.
They found that overall, more than 85% of all participants had at least one respiratory virus detected during that time and more than 80% had an episode of acute respiratory illness — though not necessarily at the same time.
More telling, 92% of pre-K and elementary school kids had a virus detected, compared with about 86% of middle school students, about 77% of high school students and 76% of staff.
The pre-K kids, ages 3 to 5, had the highest rates of actual illness, too, the study found.
Most of the viruses were the kinds that cause the common cold, including rhinovirus, which was found in 65% of participants, and types of seasonal coronavirus detected in about 30%. The virus that causes COVID-19 was found in about 15% of those studied.
The new study provides a baseline look at the burden of viruses in school settings, Goldman said.
It also confirms the real-world experience of pediatricians who are parents, like Dr. Nicole Torres of the University of Miami Health System.
“I can say this for my own children, who are now in their teens: They were sicker when they were younger,” she said.
The study also squares with older research that found that young kids play a key role in spreading respiratory viruses at home. Dr. Carrie Byington was co-author of a University of Utah study, published in 2015, that recruited 26 households to take nasal samples from everyone living in a home, every week, for a year.
That study found that children younger than 5 had virus detected for half of the weeks of the year, recalled Byington, who is now with the University of California, San Diego.
“And if you live in a household with multiple children, that proportion just goes higher, so it can appear as if someone is always sick,” she said.
Preventing illness in children at school or at home can be tough, experts acknowledge.
Being up to date on vaccinations for COVID-19 and influenza is important, they said. So is frequent handwashing, learning to cover coughs and keeping hands away from the eyes, nose and mouth. Cleaning and sanitizing frequently touched surfaces and objects and optimizing fresh air are also key.
When little ones do get sick, the best treatment is often supportive care like extra fluids and rest. In serious cases, medical providers may recommend medications to reduce fever or antiviral drugs.
It can take a couple weeks, however, for lingering symptoms like coughs to completely resolve. By then, the child may well have another cold.
“I do tell parents of younger children to expect them to be ill once every month, every month and a half,” Torres said. “It’ll seem that way.”
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FILE - Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford visitor Sheila Garcia, 3, wears before visiting a patient at the hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., Oct. 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)
HAVANA (AP) — Cuban soldiers wearing white gloves marched out of a plane on Thursday carrying urns with the remains of the 32 Cuban officers killed during a stunning U.S. attack on Venezuela as trumpets and drums played solemnly at Havana's airport.
Nearby, thousands of Cubans lined one of the Havana’s most iconic streets to await the bodies of colonels, lieutenants, majors and captains as the island remained under threat by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The shoes of Cuban soldiers clacked as they marched stiff-legged into the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, next to Revolution Square, with the urns and placed them on a long table next to the pictures of those slain so people could pay their respects.
Thursday’s mass funeral was only one of a handful that the Cuban government has organized in almost half a century.
Hours earlier, state television showed images of more than a dozen wounded people accompanied by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez arriving Wednesday night from Venezuela. Some were in wheelchairs.
The official announcer indicated that they were “combatants” who had been “wounded” in Venezuela. They were greeted by the Minister of the Interior, Lázaro Alberto Álvarez, and the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Álvaro López Miera.
Those injured and the bodies of those killed arrived as tensions grow between Cuba and U.S., with President Donald Trump recently demanding that the Caribbean country make a deal with him before it is “too late.” He did not explain what kind of deal.
Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela's money and oil. Experts warn that the abrupt end of oil shipments could be catastrophic for Cuba, which is already struggling with serious blackouts and a crumbling power grid.
Officials unfurled a massive flag at Havana's airport as President Miguel Díaz-Canel, clad in military garb as commander of Cuba's Armed Forces, stood silent next to former President Raúl Castro, with what appeared to be the relatives of those slain looking on nearby.
Cuban Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casa said Venezuela was not a distant land for those killed, but a “natural extension of their homeland.”
“The enemy speaks to an audience of high-precision operations, of troops, of elites, of supremacy,” Álvarez said in apparent reference to the U.S. “We, on the other hand, speak of faces, of families who have lost a father, a son, a husband, a brother.”
Álvarez called those slain “heroes,” saying that they were example of honor and “a lesson for those who waver.”
“We reaffirm that if this painful chapter of history has demonstrated anything, it is that imperialism may possess more sophisticated weapons; it may have immense material wealth; it may buy the minds of the wavering; but there is one thing it will never be able to buy: the dignity of the Cuban people,” he said.
Thousands of Cubans lined a street where motorcycles and military vehicles thundered by with the remains of those killed.
“They are people willing to defend their principles and values, and we must pay tribute to them,” said Carmen Gómez, a 58-year-old industrial designer, adding that she hopes no one invades given the ongoing threats.
When asked why she showed up despite the difficulties Cubans face, Gómez replied, "It’s because of the sense of patriotism that Cubans have, and that will always unite us.”
Cuba recently released the names and ranks of 32 military personnel — ranging in age from 26 to 60 — who were part of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the raid on his residence on January 3. They included members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, the island’s two security agencies.
Cuban and Venezuelan authorities have said that the uniformed personnel were part of protection agreements between the two countries.
Meanwhile, a demonstration was planned for Friday across from the U.S. Embassy in an open-air forum known as the Anti-Imperialist Tribune. Officials have said they expect the demonstration to be massive.
“People are upset and hurt. There’s a lot of talk on social media; but many do believe that the dead are martyrs” of a historic struggle against the United States, analyst and former diplomat Carlos Alzugaray told The Associated Press.
In October 1976, then-President Fidel Castro led a massive demonstration to bid farewell to the 73 people killed in the bombing of a Cubana de Aviación civilian flight financed by anti-revolutionary leaders living in the U.S. Most of the victims were Cuban athletes returning to their island.
In December 1989, officials organized “Operation Tribute” to honor the remains of more than 2,000 Cuban combatants who died in Angola during Cuba’s participation in the war that defeated the South African army and ended the apartheid system. In October 1997, memorial services were held following the arrival of the remains of guerrilla commander Ernesto “Che” Guevara and six of his comrades, who died in 1967.
A day before the remains of those slain arrived in Cuba, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced $3 million in relief aid to help the island recover from the catastrophic Hurricane Melissa, which struck in late October.
The first flight took off from Florida on Wednesday, and a second flight was scheduled for Friday. A commercial vessel also will deliver food and other supplies.
“We have taken extraordinary measures to ensure that this assistance reaches the Cuban people directly, without interference or diversion by the illegitimate regime,” Rubio said, adding that the U.S. government was working with Cuba's Catholic Church.
The announcement riled Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez.
“The U.S. government is exploiting what appears to be a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic and politically manipulative purposes,” he said in a statement. “As a matter of principle, Cuba does not oppose assistance from governments or organizations, provided it benefits the people and the needs of those affected are not used for political gain under the guise of humanitarian aid.”
Coto contributed from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Workers fly the Cuban flag at half-staff at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune near the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in memory of Cubans who died two days before in Caracas, Venezuela during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
