Bloodstream infections at a tertiary level paediatric hospital in South Africa.

Background: Bloodstream infection (BSI) in children causes significant morbidity and mortality. There are few studies describing the epidemiology of BSI in South African children.

Methods: A retrospective descriptive cohort study was conducted at a paediatric referral hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.

Emergence of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus at a tertiary paediatric hospital in South Africa.

Background: During 2013, the haematology/oncology unit at a tertiary level paediatric hospital in South Africa experienced the emergence of infection with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE).

Objective: To describe the clinical and molecular aspects of the cases identified.

Methods: VRE isolates identified from blood culture specimens processed at the National Health Laboratory Service were screened for the presence of the vancomycin resistance genes vanA, B and C1, 2 and 3.

A case of emmonsiosis in an HIV-infected child.

Opportunistic fungal infections can cause significant morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. We describe a paediatric case of an unusual disseminated fungal infection. A three-year-old HIV-infected child with severe immunosuppression (CD4+ T-cell count 12 × 10/L) was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, gastroenteritis and herpes gingivostomatitis.

Blood cultures in sick children.

Background: Blood cultures (BCs) are frequently performed in sick children. A recent audit of BCs among adult patients documented high rates of contamination by coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS).

Objectives: To describe BC contamination rates and common pathogenic organisms causing bloodstream infection in children at a tertiary- level children's hospital.