Multicenter registry of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) and Paired comparison with Kawasaki disease.

Objectives: This study aimed to identify clinical characteristics to differentiate multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) and Kawasaki disease (KD) in Taiwan, an island with a delayed cluster of MIS-C and a high incidence of KD. Additionally, we studied risk factors for developing severe complications in patients with MIS-C.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective, multicenter, cohort, and observational study that linked data on patients with MIS-C between May and December 2022 and patients with KD between 2019 and 2021 from 12 medical centers.

Clinical characteristics and risk factors of severe human parainfluenza virus infection in hospitalized children.

Background: Human parainfluenza viruses (HPIVs) commonly cause childhood respiratory illness requiring hospitalization in Taiwan. This study aimed to investigate clinical severity and identify risk factors predisposing to severe disease in hospitalized children with HPIV infection.

Methods: We included hospitalized patients with lab-confirmed HPIV infection from 2007 to 2018 and collected their demographic and clinical characteristics.

Seasonality and risk factor analysis of respiratory syncytial virus infection in children in Taiwan-A retrospective study from 1995 to 2005.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the important pathogens leading to acute respiratory tract infection in infants and young children. We aimed to investigate the seasonality of RSV infection in different parts of Taiwan and to delineate the risk factors for severe RSV infections. We collected RSV-infected patients' data by retrospective chart review.

Viral dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infections in a previously low COVID-19 prevalence region: Effects of vaccination status, antiviral agents, and age.

Background: In Taiwan, the prevalence of COVID-19 was low before April 2022. The low SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in the population of Taiwan provides an opportunity for comparison with fewer confounding factors than other populations globally. Cycle threshold (Ct) value is an easily accessible method for modeling SARS-CoV-2 dynamics.

Prolonged Streptococcus gallolyticus subsp. pasteurianus gut colonization in healthcare workers and potential transmission role in neonatal sepsis.

Background: Streptococcus gallolyticus subsp. pasteurianus (SGSP) is a commensal in the intestinal tract and a potential pathogen of neonatal sepsis. During an 11-month period, four consecutive cases of SGSP sepsis were identified in one postnatal care unit (unit A) without evidence of vertical transmission.

Differential clinical characteristics and performance of home antigen tests between parents and children after household transmission of SARS-CoV-2 during the Omicron variant pandemic.

Objectives: The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant pandemic struck Taiwan in April 2022. Rapid antigen tests (RATs) play an important role in providing rapid results during a pandemic. However, self-collected samples by the children's caregivers without the supervision of medical personnel raise some concerns.

Clinical characteristics and outcomes of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales bacteremia in pediatric patients.

Background/purpose: Clinical data on carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) bacteremia in the pediatric population are limited. This study investigated the clinical characteristics and outcomes of pediatric CRE bacteremia.

Methods: Clinical data on bacteremia caused by carbapenem-susceptible and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales, including Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp.

Comparisons of the clinical and mycological characteristics of pediatric candidemia.

Background/purpose: Invasive candidiasis is a severe infectious disease that could lead to mortality in critically ill children.

Methods: We collected data regarding demographics, underlying diseases, predisposing factors, outcomes for pediatric patients with candidemia at a medical centre in Taiwan from 2011 to 2017.

Results: Fifty-eight patients with 60 candidemia episodes were diagnosed.

Clinical characteristics of recurrent pneumonia in children with or without underlying diseases.

Background: Recurrent pneumonia is uncommon in children and few studies investigate the clinical impact of underlying diseases on this issue. This study aimed to explore the difference in clinical manifestations, pathogens, and prognosis of recurrent pneumonia in children with or without underlying diseases.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of pediatric recurrent pneumonia from 2007 to 2019 in National Taiwan University Hospital.

RSV pneumonia with or without bacterial co-infection among healthy children.

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common cause of childhood pneumonia, but there is limited understanding of whether bacterial co-infections affect clinical severity.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study at National Taiwan University Hospital from 2010 to 2019 to compare clinical characteristics and outcomes between RSV with and without bacterial co-infection in children without underlying diseases, including length of hospital stay, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, ventilator use, and death.

Results: Among 620 inpatients with RSV pneumonia, the median age was 1.

Clinical characteristics of influenza with or without Streptococcus pneumoniae co-infection in children.

Background/purpose: Influenza is frequently complicated with bacterial co-infection. This study aimed to disclose the significance of Streptococcus pneumoniae co-infection in children with influenza.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed medical records of pediatric patients hospitalized for influenza with or without pneumococcal co-infection at the National Taiwan University Hospital from 2007 to 2019.

Severe Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia requiring intensive care in children, 2010-2019.

Background/purpose: Despite the high prevalence of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections, reports on severe life-threatening M. pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) in children are limited.

Methods: We retrospectively enrolled pediatric patients with PCR-positive MPP requiring ICU admission in a children's hospital in Taipei, Taiwan from Jun 2010 to October 2019.

Clustering of Streptococcus gallolyticus subspecies pasteurianus bacteremia and meningitis in neonates.

Background/purpose: Although Streptococcus gallolyticus subspecies pasteurianus (SGSP) is a rare pathogen in children, it can cause invasive infections among neonates and infants. Herein, we report bacteremia/meningitis caused by SGSP in three neonates and review the literature on bacteremia and/or meningitis caused by this organism.

Methods: Three neonates, referred from an obstetrics clinic within a 2-month period, presented with invasive SGSP infections.

Pediatric parapneumonic effusion before and after national pneumococcal vaccination programs in Taiwan.

Background: Reports on the effectiveness of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) on pediatric parapneumonic effusion are limited. We report the changes in cases and etiologies of pediatric parapneumonic effusion in a children's hospital before and after national PCV13 vaccination programs.

Methods: We screened medical records of children 0-18 years admitted to the National Taiwan University Hospital with diagnoses of lobar pneumonia and parapneumonic effusion between 2008 and 2017.

Clinical features and risk factors associated with bacteremia of nontyphoidal salmonellosis in pediatric patients, 2010-2018.

Background/purpose(s): This study aimed to investigate clinical features and antimicrobial susceptibility of inpatient children with nontyphoidal salmonellosis from 2010 to 2018.

Methods: We retrospectively collected pediatric patients with nontyphoidal Salmonella infection confirmed by positive cultures in a tertiary medical center in Taiwan from 2010 to 2018. Patients' characteristics, clinical manifestations, and laboratory data were collected.

Applicability of an in-house saponin-based extraction method in Bruker Biotyper matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry system for identifying bacterial and fungal species in positively flagged pediatric VersaTREK blood cultures.

Background/purpose: Early identification of pathogens causing bloodstream infection (BSI) is critical for prompt administration of appropriate antimicrobial therapy.

Methods: We used an in-house saponin-based extraction method to evaluate the performance of Bruker Biotyper MALDI-TOF MS system (MALDI Biotyper) for bacterial and fungal identification in 2013 positively-flagged VersaTREK blood culture bottles.

Results: A total of 180 monomicrobial and 23 polymicrobial positive blood cultures were investigated.

Resurgence of pertussis in Taiwan during 2009-2015 and its impact on infants.

Background/purpose: Pertussis incidence markedly decreased due to universal vaccination, but outbreaks had been noted worldwide in recent decade. This study was conducted to know the epidemiology of pertussis and its impact on infants in Taiwan.

Methods: Epidemiologic parameters for confirmed pertussis cases were collected from the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control.

Human parvovirus B19 infection in patients with or without underlying diseases.

Background/purpose: The clinical presentations of parvovirus B19 in patients with underlying diseases have greater diversity than previously healthy patients. We retrospectively identified patients with polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed parvovirus B19 infection in attempt to describe its clinical features especially in these populations.

Methods: From 2009 to 2018, patients with real-time PCR-confirmed parvovirus B19 infection were collected.

Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia in Taiwan from 2014 to 2017: Clinical manifestations and outcomes between pediatric and adult patients.

Background: Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PJP) is a severe and lethal opportunistic infection in the immunocompromised patients. As the increasing usage of immunosuppressants, the incidence of non-HIV related PJP has increased in recent years. Still, there is little research regarding children with PJP.

Usefulness of the FilmArray meningitis/encephalitis (M/E) panel for the diagnosis of infectious meningitis and encephalitis in Taiwan.

Background/purpose: Early recognition of causative pathogens is critical for the appropriate management of central nervous system infection and improved outcomes. The BioFire FilmArray Meningitis/Encephalitis Panel (BioFire ME Panel, BioFire Diagnostics) is the first U.S.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae in pediatric patients: Do macrolide-resistance and/or delayed treatment matter?

Background: Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a common pathogen for pneumonia in children, especially in the post-pneumococcal conjugate vaccination era. Though self-limited disease was found in the majority of the patients, severe diseases occurred occasionally. The emergence of macrolide resistance was reported worldwide.

Increased age and proton pump inhibitors are associated with severe Clostridium difficile infections in children.

Background: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is increasing in children. We aimed to compare the clinical characteristics between CDI and colonization and to identify the risk factors for severe diseases of CDI in children.

Method: We retrospectively reviewed 124 children (1-18 years old) from 2011 to 2018.

Adenovirus replication and host innate response in primary human airway epithelial cells.

Background: Adenovirus infections are very common in children and sometimes fatal. Immune responses and hypercytokinemia are related to disease severity in patients with adenovirus infection. Understanding of viral replication and immune responses could help elucidate the immunopathogenesis of severe adenovirus infections.