The third pandemic: The respiratory syncytial virus landscape and specific considerations for the allergist/immunologist.

Since its initial identification in 1956, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has been the second most common cause of mortality in infants <6 months of age and a major cause of morbidity and mortality associated with lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) in older adults (ages >60 years) worldwide. Of particular interest to the allergist/immunologist is a growing body of evidence that suggests an association between LRTI caused by RSV in infants with later-life development of asthma, wheezing, or impaired lung function in adults. Efforts to develop a RSV vaccine have been thwarted for >70 years by the occurrence of enhanced respiratory disease (ERD), an adverse RSV vaccine reaction, in the 1960s, in which more-severe illness occurred on natural infection after vaccination of infants who were RSV naive and with a formalin-inactivated RSV vaccine.

Monkeypox viral infection and disease: A challenge for the allergist-immunologist.

Human monkeypox is a zoonosis caused by the monkeypox virus, an orthopoxvirus and close relative of variola virus, the causative agent of smallpox. The disease was first reported in central Africa in 1970, where it continues to be endemic and has historically affected some of the poorest and most marginalized communities in the world. The condition has recently attracted global attention due to >14,000 cases, including five deaths, reported by the World Health Organization, and a total of 5189 confirmed monkeypox cases in the United States reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as of July 29, 2022.

The global burden of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases in children less than 5 years of age: Implications for COVID-19 vaccination. How can we do better?

Infectious diseases are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. As of 2018, the total world population of children < 5 years of age was roughly estimated at 679 million. Of these children, an estimated 5.

COVID-19 in children: Pathogenesis and current status.

Since its initial description in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly progressed into a worldwide pandemic, which has affected millions of lives. Unlike the disease in adults, the vast majority of children with COVID-19 have mild symptoms and are largely spared from severe respiratory disease. However, there are children who have significant respiratory disease, and some may develop a hyperinflammatory response similar to that seen in adults with COVID-19 and in children with Kawasaki disease (KD), which has been termed multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).

COVID-19 in children: Pathogenesis and current status.

Background: Since its initial description in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly progressed into a worldwide pandemic, which has affected millions of lives. Unlike the disease in adults, the vast majority of children with COVID-19 have mild symptoms and are largely spared from severe respiratory disease. However, thereare children who have significant respiratory disease, and some may develop a hyperinflammatory response similar to thatseen in adults with COVID-19 and in children with Kawasaki disease (KD), which has been termed multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).

Electronic health records-Applications for the allergist/immunologist: All that glitters is not gold.

A review of existing literature on electronic health records (EHR) demonstrates the lack of a comprehensive analysis of the current status of, and impediments for, physicians, including allergists/immunologists, to adopting a fully functioning system. For physicians to logically embrace the use of EHRs, a comprehensive but straightforward presentation of this complex subject would be helpful. In fact, although there is some evaluative information regarding data derived from EHRs about asthma epidemiology and practice guidelines as well as recording adverse allergic reactions, it is impossible to find one scholarly article that evaluated the use of fully functional EHRs from the perspective of an allergist or immunologist.

Implementation of a pertussis immunization program in a teaching hospital: an argument for federally mandated pertussis vaccination of health care workers.

Background: As pertussis disease becomes more common, health care-associated outbreaks have been reported with increasing frequency. Often, these clusters are costly and labor intensive to investigate and contain. It is clear that health care workers are among the adults who transmit pertussis to susceptible infants.

Live viral vaccines in the control of highly infectious diseases: measles and varicella.

It is possible that by the end of this decade, measles and varicella two of the most infections and previously universal diseases of children, with massive levels of morbidity and significant mortality, may become of historical interest only. To accomplish this success, it is imperative that all involved parties do what is required. The vaccine supply must be assured, parents must be appropriately educated and reinforced by the media to bring their children to be immunized, and healthcare personnel must both aggressively ascertain and administer needed immunizations.

A case of severe monkeypox virus disease in an American child: emerging infections and changing professional values.

Monkeypox virus disease is a rare zoonosis that until recently was limited to Central Africa. We describe the clinical features of the third child in the United States reported with this newly emerging infection. This child was part of a large cluster of individuals in the Midwest infected by prairie dogs that had contracted the virus when housed with infected small mammals imported from Africa.

Immunization issues for the 21st century.

Objective: Review and discuss major issues of vaccination and immunization. The development and application of vaccination and immunization is one of the most remarkable successes of the 20th century. This is true both in the United States and worldwide.