Clinical practice guidelines on leptospirosis in children 2019

Executive Summary@#Leptospirosis is a disease prevalent mostly in tropical and subtropical countries. Its potential to be a concerning problem emerges with the onset of the rainy season, as flooding and heavy rainfall facilitate disease epidemics. Among those at risk of contracting the disease are field workers, veterinarians, sewer workers, military personnel and those who swim or wade in contaminated waters. In the absence of an existing evidence-based guideline for the pediatric age group, this first edition hopes to standardize approach to diagnosis, antibiotic management, and prevention of leptospirosis. The intended users are primary care physicians, family medicine physicians, pediatricians, and other healthcare workers involved in the management of leptospirosis in children. Ten priority questions were identified by a group of experts composed of an oversight committee, a guideline writing panel, and a technical review committee. The GRADE methodology was used to determine the quality of evidence of each recommendation. The draft recommendations (summarized below) were finalized after these were presented to and voted on by a panel of stakeholders.

The utility of a chest radiograph in screening COVID-19 patients in a pediatric tertiary government hospital

@#<p><strong>Background:</strong> Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to be a pandemic to this time, and chest radiography has been used as a first-line triage tool, due to long turnaround times for real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), which remains to be the gold standard in COVID-19 diagnosis. Chest x-ray alone has poor sensitivity to diagnosing COVID-19 and pediatric studies on this are scarce.</p><p><strong>Objectives:</strong> The main objective is to evaluate the usefulness of a routine chest radiograph as an adjunct to diagnosing suspected pediatric COVID-19, along with its sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and correlation with the most common pediatric signs and symptoms. In line with this, the radiographic characteristics seen in pediatric COVID-19 patients are presented.</p><p><strong>Methods:</strong> A cross-sectional study involving a retrospective chart review of 259 pediatric patients admitted in a tertiary hospital with COVID-19 signs and symptoms, with baseline chest x-ray and SARS-CoV2 RT-PCR tests. Correlation of signs and symptoms with chest x-ray findings to RT-PCR positivity was determined using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis.</p><p><strong>Results:</strong> The study was composed of 259 pediatric patients (ages 0-18 years old). Of these, 35 had positive findings with RT-PCR (15%). Sensitivity of a chest radiograph with pneumonia is at 62.9%, while specificity is at 39.3%. Overall accuracy of CXR findings leading to RT-PCR positivity is at 42.5%. Ground glass or hazy opacities was the most common radiographic finding (45.5%), followed by reticular opacities (31.8%). Abnormalities were mostly distributed in the inner lung zone distribution with bilateral lung involvement (90%). Those with difficulty of breathing were more likely to have pneumonia on their CXR, though a finding of pneumonia on CXR did not significantly correlate to a positive RT-PCR.</p><p><strong>Conclusions & Recommendations:</strong> Findings of pneumonia on a pediatric CXR may not necessarily lead to a positive SARS-CoV2 RT-PCR, but correlating this with the patient's clinical course and symptoms may be beneficial in effective triaging of patients. Reassessment by another radiologist may provide additional strength to this study.</p>

Fulminant Hepatic Failure in a SARS-CoV-2 positive pediatric patient: A case report

@#Respiratory symptoms are the most common manifestation of COVID-19 across all age groups and it is most often associated with radiographical findings consistent with pneumonia.2 A recent systematic review estimated that 16% of children with SARS-CoV-2 infection are asymptomatic,3 or others may present with seizures, gastrointestinal bleeding or jaundice. This reports a 2-year old boy with no known co-morbidity who had a 2-week history of abdominal pain and jaundice then had a rapidly progressive course of neurological deterioration and eventual demise. He had markedly elevated liver enzymes and deranged bleeding parameters with elevated ammonia and ferritin levels. Hepatitis B and hepatitis A titers were non-reactive. He was managed as a case of hepatic encephalopathy secondary to cholestatic jaundice. His chest x-ray was normal but his SARS-CoV-2 RT PCR result was positive with a low cycle threshold. Locally, this is the first reported case of SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR positive pediatric patient presenting as fulminant hepatic failure with no associated respiratory manifestations. Clinicians should be mindful that such presentation, however uncommon, is possible and a high index of suspicion should be maintained.

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome In Children (MIS-C): A case series in a tertiary hospital

@#The clinical course of COVID-19 in the pediatric population has been reported to be mild in the majority of affected patients. However, a condition referred to as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) can occur with SARS-CoV-2 infection where patients can become critically ill. In this series, we describe five pediatric patients with the spectrum of MIS-C associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection.