Procalcitonin use in febrile children attending European emergency departments: a prospective multicenter study.

Background: Studies on procalcitonin (PCT) for identifying sepsis were published as early as 1993 and since then, PCT has been the topic of over 8,500 studies. Several studies show PCT to be superior to CRP in differentiating invasive infections such as sepsis from viral infections, especially early in the disease course. However, its actual use in clinical practice is poorly documented.

Ethical and legal considerations in the care of children and young people with high consequence infectious diseases (HCIDs): an approach to decision making.

High consequence infectious diseases (such as Ebola virus or avian influenza) require specialist management with strict isolation to avoid spread to health-care staff and the wider community. These infections present various ethical and legal issues for children and young people. Specific challenges include the impact of isolation on the child and family (potentially without a child's consent), limitations to care due to staff safety considerations, and reduction of resources for other children (due to potential closure of paediatric intensive care unit beds).

A 5-transcript signature for discriminating viral and bacterial etiology in pediatric pneumonia.

Pneumonia stands as the primary cause of death among children under five, yet current diagnosis methods often result in inadequate or unnecessary treatments. Our research seeks to address this gap by identifying host transcriptomic biomarkers in the blood of children with definitive viral and bacterial pneumonia. We performed RNA sequencing on 192 prospectively collected whole blood samples, including 38 controls and 154 pneumonia cases, uncovering a 5-transcript signature (genes , , , , and ) that effectively distinguishes bacterial from viral pneumonia (area under the curve (AUC): 0.

A diagnostic host-specific transcriptome response for Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia to guide pediatric patient treatment.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae causes atypical pneumonia in children and young adults. Its lack of a cell wall makes it resistant to beta-lactams, which are the first-line treatment for typical pneumonia. Current diagnostic tests are time-consuming and have low specificity, leading clinicians to administer empirical antibiotics.