The increase of bronchiolitis severity in the 2022-2023 season in an Italian tertiary children's hospital: An isolated phenomenon or a warning sign?

Aim: Recent literature has shown epidemiological changes in bronchiolitis with an increased incidence in the post-SARS-CoV-2 pandemic period but reports regarding disease severity are conflicting. We aimed to describe the epidemiology, disease severity, and microbiology of bronchiolitis during the 2022-2023 cold season compared to the previous 5 years.

Methods: This single-center retrospective observational study at IRCCS Gaslini, Italy, included all children aged 0-2 years hospitalized for bronchiolitis from 1 September 2017 to 31 August 2023.

Acute pediatric encephalitis: etiology, course, and outcome of a 12-year single-center immunocompetent cohort.

Background: Encephalitis is an uncommon but severe disorder due to an inflammation of the brain parenchyma, usually diagnosed on clinical, laboratory, electroencephalographic, and neuroradiological features. New causes of encephalitis have been reported in recent years, so diagnostic criteria have changed over time. We report on a single-center experience of a pediatric Hospital, the hub of its region, over 12 years (2008-2021), with the evaluation of all children managed for acute encephalitis.

Learning from the COVID-19 pandemic: IMCU as a more efficient model of pediatric critical care organization.

Background: A significant proportion of children with SARs-CoV-2-related illnesses have been admitted to the Pediatric intensive care unit (ICU), although often for closer monitoring or concerns related to comorbidities or young age. This may have resulted in inappropriate ICU admissions, waste of resources, ICU overcrowding, and stress for young patients and caregivers. The Pediatric Intermediate Care Unit (IMCU) may represent an appropriate setting for the care of children whose monitoring and treatment needs are beyond the resources of a general pediatric ward, but who do not qualify for critical care.

Timely Recognition and Early Multi-Step Antinflammatory Therapy May Prevent ICU Admission of Patients With MIS-C: Proposal for a Severity Score.

In this observational study, we report the clinical, therapeutics and outcome features of 23 patients with multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) who have been treated in Gaslini Children Hospital (Genoa, Italy) with a multistep antinflammatory treatment protocol, based on disease severity at admission. Patients were initially assigned to four severity classes on admission and treated accordingly. The therapeutic options ranged from IV immunoglobulin alone to a combination of IVIG plus pulses of methylprednisolone plus anakinra for patients with marked cardiac function impairment or signs of macrophage activation syndrome, with rapid treatment escalation in case of inadequate therapeutic response.

Longitudinally Extensive Transverse Myelitis (LETM) and Myopericarditis in a 7-Month-Old Child with SARs-CoV-2 Infection.

Introduction: In the last few months, some pediatric cases with neurological and neuroradiological pictures related to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections have been reported, often associated with multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C). The most frequently encountered pediatric neurological complications seem to be postinfectious immune-mediated acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM)-like changes of the brain, myelitis, neural enhancement, and splenial lesions. Concomitant neurological and cardiac involvement has been reported only in MIS-C, although specific clinical details are often not fully available.

Management and outcome of benign acute childhood myositis in pediatric emergency department.

Background: Benign acute childhood myositis (BACM) is a self-limited syndrome associated with viral infections characterized by symmetric lower extremity pain typically affecting school-aged children. Evolution in rhabdomyolysis and kidney damage is rarely reported. Despite this, the acute presentation commonly concerns both parents and health care providers, often leading to unnecessary workup.

Bortezomib-Responsive Refractory Anti-N-Methyl-d-Aspartate Receptor Encephalitis.

Background: Anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor encephalitis is a central nervous system inflammatory autoimmune disease affecting adults and children. The use of first- and second-line immunotherapies is supported. Recent reports suggest the efficacy of bortezomib in severe anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate encephalitis in adult patients not responsive to second-line treatment; there are no data about pediatric patients.

A case of neonatal human parechovirus encephalitis with a favourable outcome.

Human parechoviruses (HPeVs) are a new family of neurotropic viruses that cause central nervous system (CNS) infections similar to enterovirus (EVs) meningoencephalitis in the neonatal period, resulting in white matter lesions that can be visualized with cranial ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging, and correlated to a large spectrum of neurological outcomes. HPeV should be suspected in neonates with signs and symptoms of sepsis-like illness or CNS disease. We report a case of neonatal HPeV encephalitis, diagnosed on the basis of clinical and radiological findings and HPeV RT-PCR, with a good neurological outcome.