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Infect Dis Ther 2023 Sep 26. Epub 2023 Sep 26.

Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, Invasive Bacterial Infections, National Reference Centre for Meningococci and Haemophilus Influenzae, 25-28 Rue du Dr Roux, 75015, Paris, France.

Introduction: Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) due to serogroup W meningococci (MenW) is consistently reported with atypical clinical manifestations, including gastrointestinal symptoms, bacteremic pneumonia, and septic arthritis. We undertook a systematic review of the literature for a comprehensive assessment of the clinical presentation of IMD caused by MenW.

Methods: PubMed and Embase databases were searched from inception to June 2022 using a combination of MeSH terms and free text for articles that reported symptoms and signs of MenW IMD, and associated manifestations. Read More

Asia Pac Allergy 2023 Sep 7;13(3):127-131. Epub 2023 Sep 7.

Allergy & Immunology Centre Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

(pneumococcus) is a significant cause of bacterial infections ranging from mild infections affecting the respiratory tract such as otitis media and sinusitis to severe diseases including bacteremia, pneumonia, and invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) (eg, meningitis, septic arthritis, and endocarditis). Pneumococcal vaccines were first developed in the 1970s as capsular pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines, which were T-cell independent and hence lacked immunologic memory. Subsequently in the year 2000, pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) conjugated to a protein to increase immunogenicity were developed and made commercially available. Read More

Front Immunol 2023 6;14:1231749. Epub 2023 Sep 6.

Infection, Immunity and Inflammation Department, University College London Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, United Kingdom.

We describe a novel, severe autoinflammatory syndrome characterized by neuroinflammation, systemic autoinflammation, splenomegaly, and anemia (NASA) caused by bi-allelic mutations in . IRAK-4 is a serine/threonine kinase with a pivotal role in innate immune signaling from toll-like receptors and production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. In humans, bi-allelic mutations in result in IRAK-4 deficiency and increased susceptibility to pyogenic bacterial infections, but autoinflammation has never been described. Read More

Infect Dis Now 2023 Sep 21:104789. Epub 2023 Sep 21.

Pediatric Infectious Pathology Group of the French Pediatric Society, Créteil, France; Université Paris Est, IMRB-GRC GEMINI, 94000 Créteil, France; Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal de Créteil, France; ACTIV, Association Clinique et Thérapeutique Infantile du Val de Marne, Créteil des Fossés, France. Electronic address:

Most osteoarticular infections (OAI) occur via the hematogenous route, affect children under 5 years of age old, and include osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, osteoarthritis and spondylodiscitis. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment are needed to avoid complications. Children with suspected OAI should be hospitalized at the start of therapy. Read More

Talanta 2023 Sep 16;267:125202. Epub 2023 Sep 16.

State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Bacterial Diseases, Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, 150069, China. Electronic address:

Streptococcus suis serotype 2 is an economically important zoonotic pathogen that causes septicemia, arthritis, and meningitis in pigs and humans. S. suis serotype 2 is responsible for substantial economic losses to the swine industry and poses a serious threat to public health, and accurate and rapid detection is important for the prevention and control of epidemic disease. Read More

Int Orthop 2023 Sep 21. Epub 2023 Sep 21.

Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Purpose: This study is aimed at determining the rates and predictors of re-operation and re-admission in children with septic arthritis treated at an institution without routine clinical practice guidelines.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study of patients less than 18 years old who underwent surgery for septic arthritis between January 1, 2009, and January 1, 2019, at a single tertiary-care paediatric institution. Uni- and multivariate analysis was performed to identify any risk factors associated with re-operation or unplanned visits to the emergency department after hospital admission compared to patients who had an uncomplicated post-operative course. Read More

Pediatrics 2023 Sep 19. Epub 2023 Sep 19.

Department of Pediatrics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis is a common chronic childhood disease, with a prevalence of ∼1 per 1000 children. Arthritis can also be a manifestation of other inflammatory conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Studies suggest a genetic influence in IBD, including mutations in CARD8. Read More

Ocul Immunol Inflamm 2023 Sep 15:1-8. Epub 2023 Sep 15.

Eye Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

Purpose: To describe the distribution, clinical findings, treatment, complications, and visual outcomes of pediatric uveitis at a tertiary referral ophthalmic center.

Methods: The medical records of all patients ≤18 years diagnosed with and managed as uveitis from August 2016 to August 2021 were reviewed retrospectively.

Results: Of the 97 patients, 52. Read More

Int J Rheum Dis 2023 Sep 14. Epub 2023 Sep 14.

Department of Pediatrics, Hirosaki University Hospital, Hirosaki, Japan.

Curr Pediatr Rev 2023 Sep 13. Epub 2023 Sep 13.

Department of Medical Imaging, King Abdullah Specialized Children Hospital, Ministry of National guard-Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Reactive arthritis is an acute inflammatory aseptic arthritis that is preceded by an infectious process in genetically predisposed individuals. It has been associated with gastrointestinal or genitourinary infection. Reactive arthritis is rare in children. Read More

J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract 2023 Sep 6. Epub 2023 Sep 6.

Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. Electronic address:

Cureus 2023 Aug 5;15(8):e42986. Epub 2023 Aug 5.

Paediatric Orthopaedics, Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, MYS.

Septic arthritis of the shoulder in pediatric patients should be diagnosed and treated urgently to prevent complications of the disease. However, early detection can be a challenge due to mild symptoms with ambiguous laboratory and radiological findings. We report a case of an eight-month-old girl who presented to us initially with pseudo paresis of her right shoulder without any signs suggestive of infection. Read More

J Pediatr Orthop B 2023 Aug 25. Epub 2023 Aug 25.

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

We investigated the prevalence of osteomyelitis and septic arthritis in individuals with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) as compared to the general population. We performed a retrospective cohort study utilizing the TriNetX Analytics platform, a federated, aggregated electronic health record (EHR) research network containing national, deidentified EHR data. We queried patients with OI, based on encounter diagnoses. Read More

Cureus 2023 Jul 31;15(7):e42738. Epub 2023 Jul 31.

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Alnoor Specialist Hospital, Mecca, SAU.

Neonatal septic arthritis is a bacterial infection that, if not identified and treated right away, can affect human joints and result in osteonecrosis, joint destruction, and permanent abnormalities. Around 0.3 out of every 1,000 live births are impacted by septic arthritis worldwide. Read More

RMD Open 2023 Aug;9(3)

Department of Rheumatology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Objectives: While protection against pertussis following maternal tetanus-diphtheria-and-acellular-pertussis (Tdap) vaccination was demonstrated in healthy term-born infants, no evidence is available on Tdap vaccination in combination with immune-modulating therapy during pregnancy. In this pilot study, we explored whether treatment with tumour necrosis factor alpha inhibitors (TNFis) in pregnant patients with rheumatic disease interferes with Tdap vaccine responses and affects maternal anti-pertussis IgG antibody levels in newborns.

Methods: Patients were included by a rheumatologist during pregnancy in case they received maternal Tdap vaccination in the late-second or early-third trimester of pregnancy. Read More

Pediatr Rheumatol Online J 2023 Aug 26;21(1):90. Epub 2023 Aug 26.

Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Rheumatology, Willem-Alexander Children's Hospital, Leiden, The Netherlands.

Background: The aim of this study was to compare pain-scores in three targeted treatment-strategies in JIA-patients and to identify characteristics predicting persistent pain.

Methods: In the BeSt-for-Kids-study 92 DMARD-naïve JIA-patients were randomized in 3 treatment-strategies: 1) initial sequential DMARD-monotherapy 2) initial methotrexate (MTX)/prednisolone-bridging or 3) initial MTX/etanercept. Potential differences in VAS pain scores (0-100 mm) over time between treatment-strategies were compared using linear mixed models with visits clustered within patients. Read More

Pediatr Infect Dis J 2023 Aug 21. Epub 2023 Aug 21.

NOVA Medical School, Comprehensive Health Research Center, CHRC, NOVA University Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.

Background: Osteoarticular infections (OAI) are associated with complications and sequelae in children, whose prediction are of great importance in improving outcomes. We aimed to design risk prediction models to identify early complications and sequelae in children with OAI.

Methods: This observational study included children (>3 months-17 years old) with acute OAI admitted to a tertiary-care pediatric hospital between 2008 and 2018. Read More

J Pediatr Orthop B 2023 Aug 15. Epub 2023 Aug 15.

Spine Center, Trélazé, France.

How drainage of septic arthritis should be performed remains controversial. The aim of the present study was to compare arthrocentesis (Ac) using double intra-articular needle lavage to arthrotomy (At) as first-line drainage treatment for pediatric hip and knee septic arthritis. The secondary objective was to identify risk factors of second articular drainage. Read More

Access Microbiol 2023 17;5(7). Epub 2023 Jul 17.

Supervising Pathologist, Department of Microbiology, Pathology West-Orange, Orange Health Service, 1530 Forest Road, Orange, NSW 2800, Australia.

is a highly virulent, vaccine-preventable pathogen which can cause disease on a spectrum from benign to fatal. Apart from pneumonia, it commonly causes septicaemia and meningitis. This case report describes an unusual range of complications in a 53-year-old Caucasian female presenting to a regional hospital, without any risk known factors for severe disease (such as extremes of age, immunodeficiency or co-morbidities). Read More

Front Pediatr 2023 3;11:1240242. Epub 2023 Aug 3.

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, United States.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on new diagnoses of recurrent fevers and autoinflammatory diseases is largely unknown. The Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) PFAPA/AID Working Group aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of pediatric patients evaluated for recurrent fevers and autoinflammatory diseases in North America. The absolute number of new outpatient visits and the proportion of these visits attributed to recurrent fever diagnoses during the pre-pandemic period (1 March 2019-29 February 2020) and the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (1 March 2020-28 February 2021) were examined. Read More

JBJS Case Connect 2023 Jul 17;13(3). Epub 2023 Aug 17.

Department of Orthopaedics, Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, Pune, India.

Case: A 9-year-old boy presented with a painful, swollen knee. He had a wound on the knee 2 months ago after a fall in contaminated water. At another hospital, this was treated with debridement twice, and the patient received several antibiotics. Read More

World J Clin Cases 2023 Jul;11(20):4897-4902

Paediatric Orthopaedics Unit, Geneva Children's Hospital, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva 1211, Switzerland.

Background: () is a human commensal bacterium which can be detected in the nose, nails, and skin. It can be responsible for heterogeneous infections such as bacteremia, endocarditis, pneumonia, acute otitis externa, peritonitis, and urinary tract infections. Bone and joint infections due to have also been reported, but most of them resulted from the infection of orthopedic devices, especially joint prostheses and internal osteosynthesis devices. Read More

IJID Reg 2023 Sep 21;8:16-18. Epub 2023 May 21.

Department of Hygiene, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.

Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL)-positive methicillin-resistant (MRSA) occasionally causes severe invasive infections. A 10-year-old immunocompetent boy in Hokkaido, the northern main island of Japan, was admitted with acute osteomyelitis of the right ilium, complicated by septic thrombophlebitis of the right common iliac vein and septic pulmonary embolism. As MRSA was isolated from blood and sputum samples of the patient, linezolid and vancomycin were initially used for treatment, and later clindamycin was added based on PCR-positive results for PVL genes. Read More

Mod Rheumatol 2023 Aug 12. Epub 2023 Aug 12.

Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.

Background: Pediatric uveitis poses challenges in diagnosis and treatment due to asymptomatic or oligosymptomatic presentations and high rates of intraocular complications.

Objectives: This study aimed to characterize clinical manifestations and treatment approaches of pediatric uveitis patients in a northern Portuguese tertiary hospital.

Methodology: A retrospective study was conducted involving forty-one patients diagnosed with uveitis between 2006 and 2021. Read More

IDCases 2023 29;33:e01866. Epub 2023 Jul 29.

Department of Respiratory Medicine, Handa City Hospital, 2-29 Touyou-cho, Handa-shi, Aichi 475-8599, Japan.

Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection in adults or immunocompromised patients has a more severe presentation compared to the mild disease in children. To the best of our knowledge, no reports have described the clinical course of VZV pneumonia focusing on time course of skin rash, chest computed tomography (CT) findings, and viral load. Furthermore, no reports have described the reactivation of human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6) in VZV pneumonia. Read More

JAMA Pediatr 2023 Sep;177(9):956-965

Child Health Evaluative Sciences, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Importance: To ensure that youths can make informed decisions about their health, it is important that health recommendations be presented for understanding by youths.

Objective: To compare understanding, accessibility, usability, satisfaction, intention to implement, and preference of youths provided with a digital plain language recommendation (PLR) format vs the original standard language version (SLV) of a health recommendation.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This pragmatic, allocation-concealed, blinded, superiority randomized clinical trial included individuals from any country who were 15 to 24 years of age, had internet access, and could read and understand English. Read More

BMJ 2023 Aug 2;382:e075835. Epub 2023 Aug 2.

Institute of Population Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan, Taiwan.

Objective: To investigate the associations between exposure to antenatal corticosteroids and serious infection in children during the first three, six, and 12 months of life.

Design: Nationwide cohort study.

Setting: National Health Insurance Research Database, Birth Reporting Database, and Maternal and Child Health Database, 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2019, to identify all pregnant individuals and their offspring in Taiwan. Read More