Haemophilus Influenzae Empyema in a Two-Month-Old Infant.

Empyema can rarely complicate pneumonia in neonates; it has a high morbidity and mortality in this population. We report a two-month-old healthy term male neonate who presented with fever, mild shortness of breath and reduced feeding to a tertiary care hospital in Muscat, Oman, in 2021. Investigations revealed the presence of Haemophilus influenzae empyema. He was managed with video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery and prolonged course of antibiotics. A follow-up at the end of the antibiotic course revealed complete symptom resolution with a repeated chest x-ray showing significant right chest opacity improvement. A baseline immune work-up was done and was reported to be within normal ranges.

Ten-year-old Omani Girl with Lyme Arthritis.

We report a 10-year-old girl who presented with acute arthritis of the left knee, which was confirmed as Lyme arthritis by serology and molecular assay. Careful history and examination were the keys to suspecting the diagnosis. The patient lived in the US for five years and her symptoms developed about a year after her return to Oman. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of Lyme arthritis in Oman and the Arabian Gulf region. This case indicates the need to suspect Lyme disease in patients presenting with compatible symptoms and a history of recent travel to endemic regions.

The differential impact of pediatric COVID-19 between high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review of fatality and ICU admission in children worldwide.

BACKGROUND: The overall global impact of COVID-19 in children and regional variability in pediatric outcomes are presently unknown. METHODS: To evaluate the magnitude of global COVID-19 death and intensive care unit (ICU) admission in children aged 0-19 years, a systematic review was conducted for articles and national reports as of December 7, 2020. This systematic review is registered with PROSPERO (registration number: CRD42020179696). RESULTS: We reviewed 16,027 articles as well as 225 national reports from 216 countries. Among the 3,788 global pediatric COVID-19 deaths, 3,394 (91.5%) deaths were reported from low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), while 83.5% of pediatric population from all included countries were from LMIC. The pediatric deaths/1,000,000 children and case fatality rate (CFR) were significantly higher in LMIC than in high-income countries (HIC) (2.77 in LMIC vs 1.32 in HIC; p < 0.001 and 0.24% in LMIC vs 0.01% in HIC; p < 0.001, respectively). The ICU admission/1,000,000 children was 18.80 and 1.48 in HIC and LMIC, respectively (p < 0.001). The highest deaths/1,000,000 children and CFR were in infants < 1 year old (10.03 and 0.58% in the world, 5.39 and 0.07% in HIC and 10.98 and 1.30% in LMIC, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The study highlights that there may be a larger impact of pediatric COVID-19 fatality in LMICs compared to HICs.