Publications by authors named "Ferielle Zenkhri"
Article Synopsis
- Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) against COVID-19, implemented in March 2020, resulted in a significant reduction in hospitalized community-acquired pneumonia (hCAP) cases in children in France.
- A detailed analysis of 2,972 hCAP cases revealed a 63% drop in monthly cases after NPIs began, with a notable increase in the median age of affected children.
- The study also found that fewer children had high inflammatory markers and there was a trend towards a decrease in pleural effusion cases during the NPI period, suggesting changes in the pathogens causing hCAP.
Diagnostic Accuracy of Routinely Available Biomarkers to Predict Bacteremia in Children With Community-Acquired Pneumonia: A Secondary Analysis of the GPIP/ACTIV Pneumonia Study in France, 2009-2018.
Front Pediatr
October 2021
Article Synopsis
- Blood cultures in children with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) often yield negative results, prompting the study of various biomarkers to predict the presence of bacteremia.
- A study of 13,752 children found that while blood culture was positive in only 3.6% of cases, levels of absolute neutrophils count (ANC), C-reactive protein (CRP), and procalcitonin (PCT) were significantly higher in those with bacteremia.
- Of the biomarkers tested, PCT was the most reliable for predicting bacteremia, outperforming white blood cell counts, and CRP stood out as the best routinely available biomarker for this condition.
Importance: In several countries, 5 years after 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) implementation, serotype replacement has been reported for invasive pneumococcal disease, which raises concerns about the long-term outcome of PCV13 implementation. The long-term effect of vaccination on community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains unknown.
Objective: To assess the long-term outcome of PCV13 implementation on CAP in children.
We describe here changes in the bacterial causes of pleural empyema before and after implementation of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) program in France (2009-2017). For 220 (39.3%) of 560 children, a bacterial cause was found.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Many countries have observed an early and strong impact of implementation of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) on community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). High levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT) are considered biomarkers of bacterial infection (particularly infection due to pneumococcus); therefore, PCV13 implementation should have different effectiveness on CAP depending on the levels of these two biomarkers. To demonstrate this assumption, we analyzed the evolution of number of CAP cases seen in pediatric emergency departments in France after PCV13 implementation (in 2010) by levels of these two biomarkers.
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