Objective Impaired gastrointestinal (GI) mucosa and immunosuppressant therapies increase the risk of secondary infection in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This study evaluated the detection of pathogens in children with IBD using a gastrointestinal panel (GP). This is the first study to compare this method with clinical data from pediatric IBD patients. Methods Children with newly diagnosed IBD or experiencing disease flares were included. Demographic data, clinical and laboratory findings, treatments, treatment durations, and disease activity were analyzed. Stool samples were ..read more

Objective Febrile infants with a proven viral infection are at lower risk for a potentially serious bacterial infection (SBI). Our objective is to describe the management of young febrile infants with COVID-19 in the emergency department. Methods Febrile infants <3 months with a positive PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test for SARS-CoV-2 between March 2020 and October 2022 were included in a cross-sectional study. The indication for complementary tests, hospital admission and antibiotic therapy was analyzed. We performed a global analysis and by age subgroups (<29 d and ≥29 d). Results ..read more

Objective This study aimed to assess the consistency of Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP)-DNA load in the respiratory tracts, its correlation with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) manifestations, and its predictive value for refractory Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (RMPP). Methods A retrospective study was performed on a cohort of MPP cases, including 215 patients with positive nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA) MP-DNA and 59 with positive bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) MP-DNA. Patients were categorized into two groups based on MP-DNA load: low load (≤106/mL) and high load (>106/mL). The co ..read more

Objective In late 2022, Western Europe and the United States experienced increased incidences of scarlet fever and life-threatening invasive group A streptococcal (iGAS) infections, especially among children. The outbreak was widely reported in the media in the United Kingdom, leading to increased emergency department (ED) attendances and threatened supplies of antibiotics. Our ED rapidly introduced point-of-care testing for GAS pharyngitis with the aim of rationalizing antibiotic prescribing. Methods We rapidly implemented the use of a molecular-based (polymerase chain reaction) point-of-care ..read more

Objective This study aimed to assess the performance of the relatively new hematological marker delta neutrophil index (DNI) and other inflammatory markers in proven sepsis of the very preterm infant. Methods Infants with a gestational age of <32 weeks, who were examined retrospectively for suspected late-onset sepsis (LOS), were evaluated in the study.. Demographic characteristics, laboratory findings, and neonatal morbidity and mortality were compared between infants with blood culture-confirmed sepsis and clinical sepsis. Results The study included 358 infants, 90 with proven sepsis and ..read more

Objective To provide an insight into the presentation, diagnosis, and management of gastrointestinal tuberculosis in children. Methods We reviewed the medical records of children who were diagnosed with gastrointestinal tuberculosis, between October 2013 and October 2023. The analysis was performed using descriptive statistics. Results During the study period, 11 of 76 tuberculosis pediatric patients (14.5%) were diagnosed with gastrointestinal tuberculosis. Six of 11 patients (54.5%) were female. The median age of the patients was 60 months (51–205 months). Eight of 11 patients had intra-abdo ..read more

Objective Community-acquired pneumonia with abnormal liver function is not uncommon. There is no systematic study on the clinical characteristics of liver dysfunction in children with community-acquired pneumonia. We aimed to evaluate the characteristics and prognosis of liver dysfunction in children with community-acquired pneumonia. Methods This study was a multicenter prospective study involving 26 hospitals in Sichuan Province from June 2020 to June 2021. The characteristics of liver dysfunction in children with community-acquired pneumonia were recorded and analyzed according to different ..read more

Late-onset sepsis (LOS; sepsis occurring after the first 72 h of life) increases the morbidity and mortality of premature neonates, especially those with very low birth weight (≤1,500 g). In LOS, Enterobacter cloacae has been rarely described as a cause of secondary brain abscesses. Our case report summarizes important aspects of cerebral abscesses due to an E. cloacae sepsis in a preterm neonate. Our patient received surgical abscess drainage and rational antibiotic treatment, employing prolonged meropenem infusions plus fosfomycin and subsequent treatment with oral trimethoprim/sulfamethoxaz ..read more

Objective This study aimed to uncover the value of long noncoding RNA FGD5-AS1 (lncRNA FGD5-AS1) in the diagnosis of infantile pneumonia and explore its pathological mechanism in lung fibroblasts. This research may provide a potential biomarker for diagnosing patients and predicting their rehabilitation outcomes. Methods This study included 92 children with infantile pneumonia as the research object, and an equal number of healthy children were introduced as controls. The FGD5-AS1 content was detected using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assay. The diagnostic value ..read more

Objective To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of children infected with diarrheal virus in Hangzhou, China, 2023. Methods From January 2023 to December 2023, 20,939 stool samples from children with acute infectious diarrhea were collected for the detection of rotavirus A and human adenovirus (HAdV), using latex agglutination detection kits; 7,584 stool samples were collected for the detection of norovirus, using real-time polymerase chain reaction reagent. Results A total of 639 (3.0%, 639/20,939) tested positive for rotavirus A, and 1,201 (5.7%, 1,201/20,939) positive samples w ..read more