Molecular and Clinical Comparison of Enterovirus D68 Outbreaks among Hospitalized Children, Ohio, USA, 2014 and 2018.

Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) causes respiratory tract infections and neurologic manifestations. We compared the clinical manifestations from 2 EV-D68 outbreaks in 2014 and 2018 and a low-activity period in 2016 among hospitalized children in central Ohio, USA, and used PCR and sequencing to enable phylogenetic comparisons. During both outbreak periods, infected children had respiratory manifestations that led to an increase in hospital admissions for asthma. The 2018 EV-D68 outbreak appeared to be milder in terms of respiratory illness, as shown by lower rates of pediatric intensive care unit admission. However, the frequency of severe neurologic manifestations was higher in 2018 than in 2014. During the same period in 2016, we noted neither an increase in EV-D68 nor a significant increase in asthma-related admissions. Phylogenetic analyses showed that EV-D68 isolates from 2018 clustered differently within clade B than did isolates from 2014 and are perhaps associated with a different EV-D68 subclade.

Screening for parasites in migrant children.

BACKGROUND: Globalization has pushed population movements in the last decades, turning imported diseases into the focus. Due to behavioral habits, children are at higher risk of acquiring parasitosis. This study aims to investigate the prevalence of parasites in migrant children and factors associated with parasitic diseases. METHOD: Retrospective cross-sectional study (2014-2018) including children diagnosed with parasitosis. The diagnosis was based on serology and/or microscopic stool-sample evaluation. Epidemiological and clinical data were recorded. RESULTS: Out of 813 migrant children screened, 241 (29.6%) presented at least one parasite, and 89 (10.9%) more than one. The median age was 6.6 years (IQR: 3.1-11.9) and 58.9% were males. Most cases were referred for a health exam; only 52.3% of children were symptomatic, but 43.6% had eosinophilia. The most common diagnosis were giardiasis (35.3%), schistosomiasis (19.1%), toxocariasis (15.4%), and strongyloidiasis (9.1%). After the multivariate analysis, African origin and presenting with eosinophilia were the main risk factors for parasitism. CONCLUSIONS: parasitosis are frequent among migrant children. Children are often asymptomatic, and thus active screening for parasitosis should be considered among high-risk populations. Eosinophilia can be useful to guide complimentary tests, as well as geographical origin, but normal eosinophil count does not exclude parasitosis.

Staphylococcus aureus Community-acquired Pneumonia in Children After 13-Valent Pneumococcal Vaccination (2008-2018): Epidemiology, Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: The epidemiology of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) has changed, influenced by sociosanitary conditions and vaccination status. We aimed to analyze the recent epidemiology of bacterial CAP in hospitalized children in a setting with high pneumococcal vaccination coverage and to describe the clinical characteristics of pediatric Staphylococcus aureus CAP. METHODS: Children <17 years old hospitalized from 2008 to 2018 with bacterial CAP in 5 tertiary hospitals in Spain were included. Cases with pneumococcal CAP were randomly selected as comparative group following a case-control ratio of 2:1 with S. aureus CAP. RESULTS: A total of 313 bacterial CAP were diagnosed: Streptococcus pneumoniae CAP (n = 236, 75.4%), Streptococcus pyogenes CAP (n = 43, 13.7%) and S. aureus CAP (n = 34, 10.9%). Throughout the study period, the prevalence of S. pyogenes increased (annual percentage change: +16.1% [95% CI: 1.7-32.4], P = 0.031), S. pneumoniae decreased (annual percentage change: -4.4% [95 CI: -8.8 to 0.2], P = 0.057) and S. aureus remained stable. Nine isolates of S. aureus (26.5%) were methicillin-resistant. Seventeen cases (50%) with S. aureus CAP had some pulmonary complication and 21 (61.7%) required intensive care. S. pneumoniae CAP showed a trend toward higher prevalence of pulmonary complications compared with S. aureus CAP (69.1% vs. 50.0%, P = 0.060), including higher frequency of pulmonary necrosis (32.4% vs. 5.9%, P = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of S. aureus CAP in children remained stable, whereas the prevalence of pneumococcal CAP decreased and S. pyogenes CAP increased. Patients with S. aureus presented a high frequency of severe outcomes, but a lower risk of pulmonary complications than patients with S. pneumoniae.