Admissions due to vaccine preventable diseases in a large paediatric intensive care unit in Greece over a 10-year period.

Aim: Childhood immunisation is an important preventive measure. However, care givers may delay routine immunisations or seek exemptions from state vaccine mandates. Vaccine refusal creates barriers on vaccine coverage and leads to morbidity and mortality.

Characteristics of Bordetella pertussis infection among infantsand children admitted to paediatric intensive care units in Greece: A multicentre, 11-year study.

Aim: To describe children with pertussis who required intensive care.

Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of pertussis admissions to all (six) national intensive care units in Greece from 2003 to 2013.

Results: A total of 31 children were included, 28 of whom were younger than 12 months old.

Invasive candidiasis in pediatric intensive care in Greece: a nationwide study.

Purpose: To record the practices for prevention and management of invasive candidiasis in the PICU and investigate the epidemiology of candidiasis and its outcome nationwide.

Methods: A multicenter national study among PICUs throughout Greece. A questionnaire referring to local practices of prevention and management of candidemia was filled in, and a retrospective study of episodes that occurred during 5 years was conducted in all seven Greek PICUs.

Enterovirus-associated hemophagocytic syndrome in children with malignancy: report of three cases and review of the literature.

Enteroviruses can cause severe manifestations in children with malignancy. Infection-associated hemophagocytic syndrome (IAHS) due to enterovirus is a rare entity in children. Patients with malignancy and IAHS due to enterovirus were retrospectively evaluated at the University of Athens' Hematology-Oncology pediatric unit within a 6-year period (2000-2006).

Invasive meningococcal disease in children in Greece: comparison of serogroup A disease with disease caused by other serogroups.

Although invasive meningococcal disease caused by serogroup A is not prevalent in developed countries, a considerable number of cases were recently recorded in Greece. In this study, serogroup A meningococcal disease was compared prospectively with meningococcal disease caused by other serogroups, using similar settings of testing and management during a 5-year period between 1999 and 2003. The Neisseria meningitidis serogroup was determined in 262 cases.

Pharmacokinetics of teicoplanin in an ICU population of children and infants.

Purpose: Better dosing is needed for antibiotics, including teicoplanin (TEI), to prevent emergence of resistant bacterial strains. Here, we assess the TEI pharmacokinetics (PK) related to a 10 mg/l minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) target in ICU children (4 to 120 months; n = 20) with gram+ infections.

Methods: Standard administration of TEI was with three 10 mg/kg Q12h, loading infusions, and maintainance with 10 mg/kg or 15 mg/kg Q24h.

The evolving epidemiology of invasive meningococcal disease: a two-year prospective, population-based study in children in the area of Athens.

In response to an increase in the incidence in invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) due to Neisseria meningitidis, a system of hospital- and laboratory-based surveillance was used in a prospective epidemiological and clinical assessment of IMD in children 0-13 years of age hospitalized in the Athens area between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2000. The annual incidence of laboratory-confirmed disease was 10.2/100,000.

Paraquat poisoning in a family.

A familial occurrence of acute paraquat (PQ) poisoning is reported. The mother administered a PQ solution to their 3 children aged 8 y, 6 y and 15 mo and then ingested an unknown amount of the herbicide herself. In the absence of history or diagnostic signs, the poisoning was initially misdiagnosed as gastroenteritis.

Non-Q wave acute myocardial infarction in acute meningococcemia in a 10-year-old girl.

Introduction: Children with acute meningococcemia may have impaired myocardial function resulting in low cardiac output despite normal intravascular volume. Severe meningococcal infection has been associated with acute interstitial myocarditis, endocarditis, and pericarditis, but not with myocardial infarction.

Case: We present the case of a 10-year-old girl with positive family history for premature myocardial infarction who sustained an acute myocardial infarction temporally related to meningococcemia.

Correlation between serum IL-6 and CRP levels and severity of head injury in children.

Objective: To examine interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP) release in children with head injury (HI) and investigate if there is a correlation between the levels of these two proteins and the severity of HI.

Design: Prospective clinical investigation.

Setting: Eight-bed paediatric intensive care unit in a university hospital.

Lamotrigine childhood overdose.

A 2-year-old male developed generalized tonic-clonic seizure activity, tremor of limbs, muscle weakness, ataxia, and hypertonia after he swallowed 16 50-mg tablets of lamotrigine. His vital signs were normal, as were electroencephalography and laboratory investigation tests. The urine toxicologic screen revealed no other drugs.

Assessment of the effect of candidate anti-inflammatory treatments on the interaction between meningococci and inflammatory cells in vitro in a whole blood model.

A wide range of immunomodulating agents are now available which may be of benefit in reducing inflammatory cell activation in meningococcal sepsis. In order to facilitate selection of candidate anti-inflammatory agents for clinical trials, we have used an in vitro whole blood model to evaluate the effects on meningococcal induced neutrophil and monocyte activation, of dexamethasone, prostacyclin, pentoxifylline and a human IgM anti-lipid A monoclonal antibody (HA-1A). Known concentrations of heat and penicillin killed meningococci were added to whole blood and the time course of cellular activation was determined.

Familial disseminated atypical mycobacterial infection in childhood: a human mycobacterial susceptibility gene?

Inherited defects in specific components of the immune system have provided many clues to the immunological mechanisms underlying resistance to microbial infection. We report a familial immune defect predisposing to disseminated atypical mycobacterial infection in childhood. 6 children with disseminated atypical mycobacterial infection and no recognised form of immunodeficency were identified.