Evaluation of vaccination status of health care workers for recommended vaccines and their acceptance of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.

INTRODUCTION: Health care workers (HCWs) are disproportionately exposed to infectious diseases and play a role in nosocomial transmission, making them a key demographic for vaccination. HCW vaccination rates are not optimal in many countries; hence, compulsory vaccination policies have been implemented in some countries. Although these policies are effective and necessary under certain conditions, resolving HCWs' hesitancies and misconceptions about vaccines is crucial. HCWs have the advantage of direct contact with patients; hence, they can respond to safety concerns, explain the benefits of vaccination, and counter antivaccine campaigns that escalate during pandemics, as has been observed with COVID-19. METHOD: A short survey was carried out in May-June 2020 on the vaccination status of HCWs working with pediatric patients with COVID-19. The survey inquired about their vaccination status (mumps/measles/rubella [MMR], varicella, influenza, and diphtheria/tetanus [dT]) and willingness to receive hypothetical future COVID-19 vaccines. The respondents were grouped according to gender, age, occupation, and region. RESULTS: In total, 4927 HCWs responded to the survey. Most were young, healthy adults. The overall vaccination rates were 57.8% for dT in the past 10 years, 44.5% for MMR, 33.2% for varicella, and 13.5% for influenza. Vaccination rates were the highest among physicians. The majority of HCWs (81%) stated that they would be willing to receive COVID-19 vaccines. CONCLUSION: Although vaccination rates for well-established vaccines were low, a majority of HCWs were willing to receive COVID-19 vaccines when available. Education and administrative trust should be enhanced to increase vaccination rates among HCWs.

A novel mutation of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL1RN) in a DIRA patient from Turkey: Diagnosis and treatment.

Sözeri B, Gerçeker-Türk B, Yildiz-Atikan B, Mir S, Berdeli A. A novel mutation of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL1RN) in a DIRA patient from Turkey: Diagnosis and treatment. Turk J Pediatr 2018; 60: 588-592. Autoinflammatory diseases can cause severe inflammation in bone and skin such as neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease (NOMID), Majeed syndrome, interleukin-36 receptor antagonist deficiency (DITRA) and deficiency of interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptor antagonist (DIRA) syndrome. Here we report a five-year old boy who was admitted to the hospital with pustular skin lesions and fever in the first month of his life. Molecular analysis of IL1RN gene revealed a single homozygous C nucleotide deletion at nucleotide position 396 (p.Thr133Profs*118). The novel p.Thr133Profs*118 mutation found in our study caused frameshift mutation and as a result, the respective protein is most likely non-functional. The patient, who received a variety of treatments for various preliminary diagnoses until the final diagnosis (DIRA), was treated with recombinant IL-1Ra, anakinra, and experienced significant clinical improvement.

Comparison of endotracheal aspirate and non-bronchoscopic bronchoalveolar lavage in the diagnosis of ventilator-associated pneumonia in a pediatric intensive care unit.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is defined as pneumonia occuring in any period of mechanical ventilation. There is no optimal diagnostic method in current use and in this study we aimed to compare two non-invasive diagnostic methods used in diagnosis of VAP in children. This prospective study was conducted in 8 bedded Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Ege University Children´s Hospital. Endotracheal aspiration (ETA) and non-bronchoscopic bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) were performed in case of developing VIP after 48 hours of ventilation. Quantitative cultures were examined in Ege University Department of Diagnostic Microbiology, Bacteriology Laboratory. Fourty-one patients were enrolled in the study. The mean age of study subjects was 47.2±53.6 months. A total of 28 in 82 specimens taken with both methods were negative/negative; 28 had positive result with ETA and a negative result with non-bronchoscopic BAL and both results were negative in 26 specimens. There were no patients whose respiratory specimen culture was negative with ETA and positive with non-bronchoscopic BAL. These results imply that there is a significant difference between two diagnostic methods (p < 0.001). Negative non-bronchoscopic BAL results are recognized as absence of VAP; therefore, ETA results were compared with this method. ETA's sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values were 100%, 50%, 100% and 48% respectively. The study revealed the ease of usability and the sensitivity of non-bronchoscopic BAL, in comparison with ETA.