A paediatric influenza update 100 years after the Skyros island Spanish flu outbreak.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak on the Greek Aegean Sea island of Skyros, which devastated its population in less than 30 days. According to Constantinos Faltaits's annals published in 1919, the influenza attack on the island of Skyros commenced acutely 'like a thunderbolt' on the 27th of October, 1918 and was exceptionally severe and fatal. At that time, the viral cause of the influenza had not been detected, while the total number of victims of the Spanish flu outbreak has been estimated to have surpassed 50 million, worldwide. Almost one century after this Aegean Sea island's tragedy, the '4th Workshop on Paediatric Virology', organised on the 22nd of September, 2018 in Athens, Greece, was dedicated to the 100 years of the 'Spanish' flu pandemic. This review article highlights the plenary and key lectures presented at the workshop on the recent advances on the epidemiology, clinical management and prevention of influenza in childhood.

Paediatric virology and human papillomaviruses: An update.

Almost 10 years ago, in October, 2008, the scientist who reported for the first time the association between human papillomaviruses (HPV) and cervical cancer, was awarded with the Nobel prize. In the years that followed, Professor Harald zur Hausen actively supported the value of the HPV vaccination in the prevention of different types of cancer and highlighted the necessity of its introduction in both girls and boys. However, to date, in the majority of countries, HPV vaccination among male adolescents has not been implemented into the national vaccination schemes, while in several countries, including Greece, the participation rate to HPV vaccination among female adolescents still remains low. Recent data indicate that catch-up HPV vaccination among young women has been extremely useful and has exhibited a significant effect in decreasing the prevalence of HPV. While the marketed current HPV vaccines prevent anogenital HPV infection, their impact on the natural history of oral HPV and their efficacy in preventing HPV-related head and neck carcinomas need to be further investigated. Juvenile onset recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, as well as HPV-associated conjunctival papillomas continue to be observed in childhood and their clinical management involves different therapeutic approaches with controversial outcomes. This review article provides an overview of recent views and advances on HPV infections and prevention in childhood that were presented at the '4th Workshop on Paediatric Virology' on Saturday September 22, 2018 in Athens, Greece.

Paediatric Virology: A rapidly increasing educational challenge.

The '2nd Workshop on Paediatric Virology', which took place on Saturday the 8th of October 2016 in Athens, Greece, provided an overview on recent views and advances on Paediatric Virology. Emphasis was given to HIV-1 management in Greece, a country under continuous financial crisis, hepatitis B vaccination in Africa, treatment options for hepatitis C virus in childhood, Zika virus in pregnancy and infancy, the burden of influenza on childhood, hand-foot-mouth disease and myocarditis associated with Coxsackie viruses. Other general topics covered included a critical evaluation of Paediatric Accident and Emergency viral infections, multimodality imaging of viral infections in children, surgical approaches of otolaryngologists to complex viral infections, new advances in the diagnosis and treatment of viral conjunctivitis and novel molecular diagnostic methods for HPV in childhood. A brief historical overview of the anti-vaccination movement was also provided, as well as presentations on the educational challenge of Paediatric Virology as a new subspecialty of Paediatrics. This review highlights selected lectures and discussions of the workshop.

A nine month old child with retropharyngeal abscess secondary to mastoid abscess presenting as torticollis: a case report.

We describe the unusual case of a 9-month-old Caucasian girl with a retropharyngeal abscess secondary to a mastoid abscess who presented with torticollis. The retropharyngeal abscess was caused by pus from the mastoid abscess tracking down under the petrous part of the temporal bone to reach the retropharyngeal space via the fossa of Rosenmüller. We believe that this is the first time that this route of infection has been reported. The patient was treated successfully with 7 days of intravenous ceftriaxone and flucloxacillin followed by oral co-amoxiclav for 7 days, followed by physiotherapy.

Water aspiration syndrome at birth - report of two cases.

Under-water birth has been considered as a safe method of delivery for healthy women with uncomplicated pregnancies after appropriate selection of women and respect of hygiene rules. However, perinatal morbidity after under-water births is not as rare as it has been considered initially. We present the cases of two neonates, who were transferred to our neonatal unit during the last 12-month period with water aspiration after their uneventful under-water birth.