Clinical Findings and Management of Pertussis.

Pertussis is an endemic highly infectious vaccine-preventable disease. The disease is a major cause of childhood morbidity and mortality. In the most recent years, the re-emergence of pertussis occurred, and many efforts were done to identify the possible causes.

Drugs for Influenza Treatment: Is There Significant News?

Vaccines remain the best measure to reduce total influenza burden. However, presently available influenza vaccines have some limitations that cause a reduced efficacy compared to immunization practices with other respiratory pathogens. This paper shows the clinical roles of antiviral drugs against influenza that have been licensed in at least one country and the potential roles of compounds that are in development.

First detection of a reassortant G3P[8] rotavirus A strain in Italy: a case report in an 8-year-old child.

Background: Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) due to group A rotavirus (RVA) agent is one of the major causes of hospitalization in paediatric age. The G3P[8] RVA genotype has been usually considered as one of the major human genotypes, largely circulating in Asia, but showing low detection rates in the European countries. In recent years, the G3P[8] RVAs emerged also in Europe as a predominant genotype and the viral strains detected revealed high similarities with equine-like G3P[8] RVA strains, resulting in a new variant circulating in humans and able to cause AGE in the paediatric population.

The Gut Microbiota-Host Partnership as a Potential Driver of Kawasaki Syndrome.

Kawasaki syndrome (KS) is a necrotizing vasculitis of small- and medium-sized vessels mostly affecting children under 5 years of age; a host of clinical and epidemiological data supports the notion that KS might result from an infectious disease. However, many efforts have failed to identify a potentially universal trigger of KS. The contribution of the intestinal microbial community-called the "microbiota"-to KS has been evaluated by an increasing number of studies, though limited to small cohorts of patients.

Impact of OM-85 Given during Two Consecutive Years to Children with a History of Recurrent Respiratory Tract Infections: A Retrospective Study.

In otherwise healthy infants and young children, respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are extremely common. Clinical data have shown that OM-85 could prevent respiratory recurrences in children. However, further studies are needed to explore the true importance of OM-85 in clinical practice.