Neurological Manifestations of Pediatric Acute COVID Infections: A Single Center Experience.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) usually leads to a mild infectious disease course in children, while serious complications may occur in conjunction with both acute infection and neurological symptoms, which have been predominantly reported in adults. The neurological complications in these patients vary based on patient age and underlying comorbidities. Data on clinical features, particularly neurological features, and prognostic factors in children and adolescents are limited. This study provides a concise overview of neurological complications in pediatric COVID-19 cases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The retrospective study reviewed medical records of all patients who were admitted to our hospital and were diagnosed with COVID-19 by real-time reverse-transcription polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) assay between 11 March 2020 and 30 January 2021. Patients with a positive PCR result were categorized into two groups: outpatient departments patients and inpatient departments (IPD). RESULTS: Of the 2530 children who underwent RT-PCR during the study period, 382 (8.6%) were confirmed as COVID-19 positive, comprising 188 (49.2%) girls and 194 (50.8%) boys with a mean age of 7.14±5.84 (range, 0-17) years. Neurological complications that required hospitalization were present in 34 (8.9%) patients, including seizure (52.9%), headache (38.2%), dizziness (11.1%) and meningoencephalitis (5.8%). CONCLUSION: The results indicated that neurological manifestations are not rare in children suffering from COVID-19. Seizures, headaches, dizziness, anosmia, ageusia and meningoencephalitis are major neurological manifestations during acute COVID-19 disease. Although seizures were the most common cause of hospitalization in IPD patients, the frequency of meningoencephalitis was quite high. Seizures were observed as febrile seizures for children under 6 years of age and afebrile seizures for those over 6 years of age. Febrile seizure accounted for half of all seizure children.

Outbreak of Sphingomonas paucimobilis septicemia in a neonatal intensive care unit.

We describe an outbreak of Sphingomonas paucimobilis in 13 newborn infants with septicemia and septic shock. Fifteen available isolates were obtained from patients and distilled water. Pulsed field gel electrophoresis showed that there was a cross-transmission of S. paucimobilis in eleven patients but these types were not the same the isolate obtained from the distilled water. The outbreak was terminated by taking appropriate control measures for infection and change of source of distilled water.

Cutaneous anthrax involving the genital area.

A 5-year-old girl was admitted with a lesion of the labia majora which was found to be owing to anthrax. She had been licked on the hand by a sick cow (which subsequently died) 5 days prior to admission to a health clinic and 8 days before admission to hospital.