Comparative Analysis of Pediatric Brucellosis Cases With and Without Bacteremia.

Introduction: Brucellosis, which is among the endemic regions of Turkey, is a common zoonotic disease. The gold standard in diagnosing brucellosis is culture. We aimed to compare demographic characteristics, risk factors, and clinical and laboratory variables between cases with culture positivity and undetected in culture. Materials and Methods: This single-center study was conducted between January 2007 and April 2022. Clinical and laboratory data of patients with brucella growth in blood culture and patients without growth were compared. Results: A total of 150 patients were included in the study. The median age was 10 (1-18 years). Of the patients, 66 (44%) were female and 84 (56%) were male. Forty (26.7%) of the patients were bacteremic and 110 (73.3%) were nonbacteremic. In the bacteremic group, white blood cell count, platelet, and hemoglobin counts were lower, and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) values were higher. In clinical evaluation, fever, hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, and abdominal pain were more common in the bacteremic group. Conclusion: The distinction between bacteremic and nonbacteremic brucellosis can be predicted using laboratory values such as white blood cells, hemoglobin counts, platelet, ALT, and AST, and clinical findings such as fever, abdominal pain, hepatomegaly, and splenomegaly.

The impact of the BIOFIRE® Blood Culture Identification 2 Panel on antimicrobial treatment of children with suspected systemic inflammatory response syndrome and sepsis.

This study aimed to assess the therapeutic effects of implementing the BioFire® Blood Culture Identification 2 (BCID2) Panel (bioMérieux, Marcy l'Etoile, France) in the clinical practice of children with sepsis. This retrospective cross-sectional study included children from 15 days of age to 18 years old with sepsis and of whom the BCID2 Panel was studied from the positive blood culture. If the antimicrobial treatment was changed according to the results of BCID2 Panel, it was recorded and re-grouped as targeted antimicrobial therapy, de-escalation of the antimicrobial treatment and shifting to another antimicrobial drug if any antimicrobial resistance was detected. Seven-days and thirty-days mortality rate was recorded. Thirty-two patients with 36 septic episodes with positive BCID2 Panel results were included. The median age was 10 months 15 days (ranging from 15 days to 16.5 years). The mean difference between having positive results by the BCID2 Panel and conventional culture methods was 82.2 ± 45.4 h (ranging from 12.3 to 207 h). Effect of the BCID2 Panel on the antimicrobial treatment was detected in 69.4% of the episodes (n = 25). Glycopeptides were ceased at 6 patients, piperacillin/tazobactam was ceased at 6 patients, and cefotaxime was ceased at one patient and de-escalation was achieved in 13 episodes which formed the 36.1% of the initial antimicrobial treatment.   Conclusion: The BCID2 Panel had an important impact on the patients care and optimization according to the principles of antimicrobial stewardship. The BCID2 Panel may be one of the key items for rapid and accurate diagnosis in children with sepsis. Blood culture is still the mainstay for especially detection of antimicrobial drug resistance, while BCID2 tests had several advantages such as speed and diagnostic accuracy as good as blood culture. What is Known: • The BioFire® Blood Culture Identification 2 (BCID2) Panel (bioMérieux, Marcy l'Etoile, France) is a well-validated assay that allows for the simultaneous identification of 43 nucleic acid targets associated with bloodstream infections within about 1 h. What is New: • BCID2 Panel had a direct impact on the patient's treatment decision at the 69.4% of the sepsis episodes. • The clinicians received the microbiological results 82.2 h earlier with BCID2 panel compared to blood culture methods with antimicrobial resistance and de-escalation of the antimicrobial drugs was achieved at 13 episodes which formed the 36.1% of the initial treatment.

BD Chloraprep™ ("2 % chlorhexidine with 70 % isopropyl alcohol") versus povidone iodine plus alcohol, for prevention of blood culture contamination at children: An investigator-initiated, open-label, single centre, randomized controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: One of the important problems that lower the diagnostic value of blood culture is contamination with skin organisms. The povidone-iodine, alcohol, and chlorhexidine gluconate alcohol are used for disinfection prior to blood sampling for culture. METHODS: The investigator-initiated, open label, single centre, randomised trial compared blood culture contamination rates between two groups of patients in which using a povidone iodine skin-preparation process with the contamination rate for using "2 % chlorhexidine with 70 % isopropyl alcohol" skin-disinfection. The patients who required sampling for blood cultures were included in the study and study period was from 15 March 2023 to 15 July 2023. RESULTS: A total of 400 blood cultures were obtained during the study, including 133 in the study group and 267 in the control group. In the total blood cultures, 11.75 % (n = 47) had microorganism isolation. Among them 39 (9.75 %) were contaminants and 8 (2 %) of them were true pathogens. The contaminant microorganisms were as following; 34 coagulase-negative Staphylococci, 3 Micrococcus spp, and 2 Streptococci viridans. The blood culture contamination rate in the study group was 5.3 % (n = 7) and 12.0 % (n = 32) in the control group, and significantly lower in the study group (p = 0.033). There is no significant difference regarding skin related side effects between two groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study, showed that 2 % chlorhexidine gluconate in 70 % isopropyl alcohol is more efficacious in children than 10 % povidone-iodine preparations for disinfecting the skin prior to blood specimen collection for prevention of blood culture contamination.

COVID-19 in hospitalized infants aged under 3 months: multi-center experiences across Turkey.

To investigate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in infants aged 0 to 3 months because there is currently a significant gap in the literature on the subject. A cross-sectional study was conducted with the involvement of 19 medical centers across Turkey and 570 infants. The majority of the patients were male (58.2%), and the three most common symptoms were fever (78.2%), cough (44.6%), and feeding intolerance (39.9%). The results showed that a small percentage of infants had positive blood (0.9%) or urine cultures (10.2%). Most infants presented with fever (78.2%). Children without underlying conditions (UCs) had mostly a complicated respiratory course and a normal chest radiography. Significant more positive urine culture rates were observed in infants with fever. A higher incidence of respiratory support requirements and abnormal chest findings were seen in infants with chronic conditions. These infants also had a longer hospital stay than those without chronic conditions.  Conclusions: Our study discloses the clinical observations and accompanying bacterial infections found in infants aged under 3 months with COVID-19. These findings can shed light on COVID-19 in infancy for physicians because there is limited clinical evidence available. What is Known: • COVID-19 in infants and older children has been seen more mildly than in adults. • The most common symptoms of COVID-19 in infants are fever and cough, as in older children and adults. COVID-19 should be one of the differential diagnoses in infants with fever. What is New: • Although most infants under three months had fever, the clinical course was uneventful and respiratory complications were rarely observed in healthy children. • Infants with underlying conditions had more frequent respiratory support and abnormal chest radiography and stayed longer in the hospital.

Perianal abscess in children: an evaluation of microbiological etiology and the effectiveness of antibiotics.

PURPOSE: We aimed to evaluate the demographic characteristics of children with perianal abscess, distribution of microbiological etiology, antibiotic susceptibility, and identify the effectiveness and coverage of antibiotics due to culture results. METHODS: A retrospective study was designed to evaluate pediatric patients with perianal abscesses between January 2013 and December 2022. RESULTS: A total of 197 episodes in 135 patients were evaluated. The median age of the patients was 10 months (22 days-17 years). The isolated microorganisms were Gram-positive bacteria in 56 (28.4%) patients and Gram-negative bacteria in 141 (71.6%) patients. The most common isolated species was Escherichia coli (n = 70, 35.5%), followed by Klebsiella spp. (n = 48, 24.4%), Staphylococcus aureus (n = 37, 18.9%), and Enterobacter spp. (n = 9, 4.5%). Forthy-two percent (n = 58) of isolates were positive for extended-spectrum beta-lactamase, 8% (n = 11) were carbapenem-resistant in Gram-negative bacteria, and 37.5% (n = 21) were methicillin-resistant, 7.1% (n = 4) were vancomycin-resistant in Gram-positive bacteria. According to bacterial culture results, ertapenem plus glycopeptide had the highest antimicrobial coverage rate (92.3%), followed by ertapenem plus clindamycin (89.8%), ertapenem (81.7%), third-generation cephalosporin plus glycopeptide (82.2%), third-generation cephalosporin plus clindamycin (69.5%). CONCLUSION: Ertapenem can be a good choice in the empirical treatment of perianal abscesses in children due to its high coverage rate.

Which Findings Make multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children Different from the Pre-Pandemic Kawasaki Disease?

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children associated with COVID-19 infection attracted attention because some features overlapped with Kawasaki disease. And due to these overlapping features with Kawasaki disease, it has become difficult to diagnose both disorders. Therefore, this study focused on the differences between the patients diagnosed with MIS-C after COVID-19 and Kawasaki patients analyzed, particularly during the pre-pandemic period. In this way, it is aimed to reduce the dilemmas experienced in Diagnosis. In this descriptive study, 98 patients diagnosed with MIS-C throughout the pandemic were compared to 37 patients diagnosed with Kawasaki Disease during the pre-pandemic period.The patients in the MIS-C group were older children and clinically suffered from more headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and chest pain than Kawasaki patients. Signs of shock such as hypotension and tachycardia were more remarkable. Also, myocarditis and mitral regurgitation were detected at a higher rate in the MIS-C group. Besides, in the laboratory, lymphopenia, hypoalbuminemia, and creatinine elevation were more apparent.In conclusion, our present study findings support that although the MIS-C and Kawasaki share common features, they present with different clinical and laboratory features. And these differences are thought to be supportive in treatment and patient management.

The Evaluation of Troponin I Levels and Myocarditis in Children with COVID-19: A Pediatric Single-Center Experience.

Children with COVID-19 usually show milder symptoms than adults; however, a minority of them may have cardiac involvement. We aimed to identify the role of troponin I levels that may predict early cardiac involvement in children with COVID-19. A single-center retrospective study was conducted to evaluate hospitalized children diagnosed with COVID-19 between March 11, 2020, and December 31, 2021. Patients with available troponin I levels and with no known cardiac disease were included. During the study period, 412 children with COVID-19 who had troponin I levels on admission were identified. Troponin levels were elevated in 7 (1.7%) patients and were normal in 395 (98.3%) patients. The median age of patients with elevated troponin levels was 4 (min. 2-max. 144) months, which was statistically lower than the age of patients with normal troponin levels (P = 0.035). All the patients with elevated troponin levels had tachycardia. Out of 7 patients with high troponin levels, 3 (42.9%) of them were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), 2 (28.6%) required oxygen support, and 1 (14.3%) required a mechanical ventilator. Patients with elevated troponin levels had a statistically longer hospital stay (P < 0.001). Neutropenia, tachycardia, PICU admission, oxygen support, and mechanical ventilation were statistically more common in patients with elevated troponin levels (P values were 0.033, 0.020, < 0.001, 0.050, and < 0.001, respectively). Electrocardiography (ECG) and echocardiography (ECHO) were performed on all patients with elevated troponin levels, and 6 (85.8%) patients were diagnosed with myocarditis. The ECG and ECHO have been performed in 58 (14.3%) out of 405 patients with normal troponin levels. Two (3.5%) patients had negative T waves on ECG, and all ECHOs were normal. Our results suggest that elevated troponin I levels in children with COVID-19 can be used to evaluate cardiac involvement and decide the need for further pediatric cardiologist evaluation.