Perinatal arterial ischemic stroke related to carotid artery occlusion.

Background: The aetiology of perinatal arterial ischemic stroke remains speculative. It is however widely accepted that the aetiology is multifactorial, involving various maternal, placental, foetal and neonatal risk factors. A resulting thromboembolic process is hypothesized and the placenta identified as the most plausible source.

[The acutely limping child].

Acute limping may be the result of multiple pathologies in children. The differential diagnosis varies based on the age of the child. Irrespective of age, the initial imaging work-up includes AP and frog leg radiographs of the pelvis and ultrasound; MRI may sometimes be helpful.

Kingella kingae osteoarticular infections in young children: clinical features and contribution of a new specific real-time PCR assay to the diagnosis.

Background: Kingella kingae is an emerging pathogen that may be recognized as the most common bacteria responsible for osteoarticular infections (OAI) in young children. However, its diagnosis remains a challenge and thus little evoked in infants, because K. kingae is a difficult germ to isolate on solid medium, and clinical signs are often mild.

[Pediatric osteo-articular infections with negative culture results: what about Kingella kingae?].

Kingella kingae is an emerging pathogen that is recognized as a causative agent of septic arthritis and osteomyelitis, primarily in infants and children. The bacterium is best detected by rapid inoculation in blood culture systems or by real-time PCR assays. Pathogenesis of the agent was linked recently to the production of a potent cytotoxin, known as RTX, which is toxic to a variety of human cell types.

Mild influenza-associated encephalopathy/encephalitis with a reversible splenial lesion in a Caucasian child with additional cerebellar features.

Mild influenza-associated encephalitis/encephalopathy with a reversible splenial lesion is a rare entity recently reported almost exclusively in Asiatic individuals. Hallmarks of this clinical-radiological syndrome include severe encephalopathy at onset, prompt and complete recovery, minimal to absent pleocytosis and rapidly reversible involvement of the splenium of the corpus callosum. We report herein a young Caucasian child who in addition had cerebellar involvement and presented a transient mutism during the recovery phase.