Montelukast does not prevent reactive airway disease in young children hospitalized for RSV bronchiolitis.

Aim: To evaluate the long-term effect of montelukast on symptoms of cough and wheeze following RSV bronchiolitis.

Methods: Fifty eight patients (aged < or = 24 months) hospitalized with a first episode of RSV bronchiolitis were enrolled in this double blind prospective randomized trial comparing montelukast (n = 31) vs placebo (n = 27).

Results: During the 3-month treatment period, there were no statistical significant differences between the two groups for symptom-free days and nights (48.

Early skin sensitization to aeroallergens.

Background: Early detection of aeroallergen sensitization is important as a prognosis factor but may be more difficult in young children.

Objective: We sought to demonstrate that skin sensitization to aeroallergens was present in a selected group of 0-2-year-old children and that it was associated with environmental exposure and a family history of allergic disease.

Methods: Data on exposure and history were extracted from the files of 824 children seen in the asthma clinic and who were skin tested to a panel of aero- and food allergens.

Optimal assessment of the ability of children with recurrent respiratory tract infections to produce anti-polysaccharide antibodies.

Specific anti-polysaccharide antibody deficiency (SPAD) is an immune disorder. Diagnostic criteria have not yet been defined clearly. One hundred and seventy-six children evaluated for recurrent respiratory tract infections were analysed retrospectively.

[Vronchiolitis and its treatment].

Bronchiolitis is the most common lower respiratory tract illness of infancy and is primarily caused by an infection with the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). An inadequately elevated hospitalisation rate and the use of different treatments with unproven efficacy lead to high cost in terms of public health. Implementation of evidence based guidelines can reduce these costs but not parents satisfaction and quality of care.

[Necrotizing pneumonia in children: apropos of 4 cases].

Objectives: To describe the necrotizing pneumonia in children, a severe affection which prevalence seems to increase; to review literature.

Patients And Methods: We report 4 cases of necrotizing pneumonia: symptoms, agents, diagnostic tools, treatment and long term evolution.

Results: In 2 cases, pneumatoceles could be seen at chest X-ray.

[Pleural effusion in childhood: management algorithm].

Based on an increased prevalence of empyema in children,we reviewed the literature on the diagnosis and management of this affection. A retrospective study of 11 children admitted to our hospital in 2003 shows a prolonged hospitalisation (median 18 days) even with adequate treatment. Based on our experience and data from the literature, we propose a management algorithm to allow treatment of children admitted ith pleural effusion.

Gas cooking and smoking habits and the risk of childhood and adolescent wheeze.

The authors investigated the risk of wheezing illnesses in relation to contemporaneous pollutant exposures (gas cooking, heating, and smoking) in childhood and adolescence in a cohort of 2,289 United Kingdom subjects. Data from two questionnaires assessing wheezing at ages 7-8 and 15-17 years and one questionnaire on current and past pollutant exposures at age 16-18 years were studied (1987-1996). The 1,868 subjects returning all three questionnaires were divided into three groups representing childhood (10.

Exercise-induced respiratory symptoms are poor predictors of bronchoconstriction.

Exercise-induced asthma (EIA) is a possible cause of poor physical performance in children. No data are available on the value of respiratory symptoms to discriminate children with bad physical fitness from children with EIA. We evaluated respiratory symptoms in school-age children during and after exercise in relation to EIA.

Successful use of intralesional and intravenous cidofovir in association with indole-3-carbinol in an 8-year-old girl with pulmonary papillomatosis.

We report the history of an 8-year-old girl who was treated for suspected lung lesions of respiratory papillomatosis with Indole-3-Carbinol, local and intravenous injections of Cidofovir for 27 months. This is the first report where a complete cure of the lung lesions occurred in a child, and was sustained for at least 24 months.

Pneumococcal psoas pyomyositis associated with complement deficiency.

A 4.5-year-old boy with complement deficiency developed infection of the psoas caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae. Pyomyositis of the psoas muscle is uncommon but should be included in the differential diagnosis of fever and lameness.

Retropharyngeal and mediastinal abscess following adenoidectomy.

Adenoidectomy is one of the most common surgical procedures in children. On rare occasions it can be complicated by a retropharyngeal abscess (RA). We report the case of a 9-year-old girl with an RA extending to the mediastinum following adenoidectomy.

Bronchiolitis management by the Belgian paediatrician: discrepancies between evidence-based medicine and practice.

Unlabelled: There is no therapy with proven effect on bronchiolitis outcome. This leads to large variations in its management between different countries. In order to evaluate how this disease was managed in our country, a questionnaire was sent to all Belgian paediatricians.

Clinical data and cerebrospinal fluid findings in Lyme meningitis versus aseptic meningitis.

The purpose of this study was to characterise Lyme meningitis (LM) in a Belgian paediatric population and to suggest findings that could allow early distinction from aseptic meningitis (AM). The medical records of patients hospitalised between 1993 and 2000 and with a discharge diagnosis of LM (n=14) or AM (n=16) were retrospectively reviewed. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare data.

[Asthma in the young child: when should inhaled foreign body be suspected?].

Many young children and infants wheeze during viral infections of the respiratory tract. The differential diagnosis of those children includes the inhalation of a foreign body. This diagnosis is overlooked in about 20% of cases, which leads to subacute and chronic complications.

[Laryngitis revealing bacterial tracheitis in a five-year-old child].

Case Report: We report the case of a five-year-old boy with clinical features of croup and left lower lobe pneumonia. Response to inhaled adrenaline and dexamethasone was incomplete and he developed respiratory distress. Direct laryngoscopy performed in the operating room showed mild glottic and subglottic inflammation.

Cutaneous lesions of disseminated cryptococcosis as the presenting manifestation of human immunodeficiency virus infection in a twenty-two-month-old child.

We report the case of a 22-month-old African boy with cutaneous lesions as the predominant feature of disseminated cryptococcosis (positive blood and cerebrospinal fluid cultures) and as the presenting manifestation of severe vertically acquired HIV infection (CDC C3 category). To our knowledge these cutaneous lesions have never been reported as the initial manifestation of AIDS in children.

[Spontaneous pneumomediastinum in an adolescent: an underestimated cause of chest pain].

Case Report: A case of mediastinal emphysema occurring without etiologic factor except a Valsalva's manoeuvre a few hours before admission in a 15-year-old boy is reported. Symptoms were cervical and chest pain with moderate dysphagia. Diagnosis was confirmed by palpating subcutaneous air in the neck region and mediastinal air on a chest roentgenogram.

[Urinary infection in the child: diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis].

Urinary tract infection is a common paediatric disease. Pyelonephritis may lead to severe renal damage (renal scarring), with possible arterial hypertension and renal insufficiency. Treatment and prognosis are closely related to a number of risk factors such as clinical, biological, radiological and scintigraphic data.