Background: COVID-19 is generally milder in children than in adults, however severe infection has been described in some patients. Few data are available on use of Remdesivir (RDV) in children, as most clinical trials focused on adult patients. We report a multicenter study conducted in 10 Italian Hospitals to investigate the safety of RDV in children affected by COVID-19.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCompared to adults, severe or fatal COVID-19 disease is much less common in children. However, a higher risk for progression has been reported in infants. Different pediatric COVID-19 severity scores are reported in the literature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Early start of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in perinatally HIV-1 infected children is the optimal strategy to prevent immunological and clinical deterioration. To date, according to EMA, only 35% of antiretroviral drugs are licenced in children < 2 years of age and 60% in those aged 2-12 years, due to the lack of adequate paediatric clinical studies on pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and drug safety in children.
Methods: An observational retrospective study investigating the rate and the outcomes of off-label prescription of HAART was conducted on 225 perinatally HIV-1 infected children enrolled in the Italian Register for HIV Infection in Children and followed-up from 2001 to 2018.
Importance: Severe gastrointestinal (GI) manifestations have been sporadically reported in children with COVID-19; however, their frequency and clinical outcome are unknown.
Objective: To describe the clinical, radiological, and histopathologic characteristics of children with COVID-19 presenting with severe GI manifestations to identify factors associated with a severe outcome.
Design, Setting, And Participants: A multicenter retrospective cohort study (February 25, 2020, to January 20, 2021) enrolled inpatient and outpatient children (aged <18 years) with acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, confirmed by positive real-time reverse-transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction on nasopharyngeal swab or fulfilling the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).
Combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) has been associated with a steep decrease in mortality and morbidity in HIV-1 infected children. New antiretroviral molecules and drug classes have been developed and the management of HIV-infected children has improved, but recent data on survival are limited. An observational retrospective study investigating changes in mortality and morbidity was conducted on 1,091 perinatally HIV-1 infected children enrolled in the Italian Register for HIV Infection in Children and followed-up from 2001 to 2018.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDifferently substituted β-hydroxy- and β-amino dialkyl and alkyl-aryl tellurides and selenides have been prepared through ring-opening reactions of epoxides and aziridines with selenium- or tellurium-centered nucleophiles. The antioxidant properties and the cytotoxicity of such compounds have been investigated on normal human dermal fibroblasts. Most of the studied compounds exhibited a low cytotoxicity and a number of them proved to be non-toxic, not showing any effect on cell viability even at the highest concentration used (100 μM).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Strategies for prevention of HIV-1 mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) have been continuously optimized. However, cases of vertical transmission continue to occur in high-income countries.
Objectives: To investigate changes in PMTCT strategies adopted by Italian clinicians over time and to evaluate risk factors for transmission.
Background: Acute/subacute haematogenous osteomyelitis (AHOM/SAHOM) are potentially devastating diseases. Updated information about the epidemiology, management and outcome of AHOM/SAHOM is needed to minimize the risk of complications and sequelae.
Methods: A multicenter study was performed to evaluate retrospectively the management and outcome of AHOM/SAHOM in Italy.
Introduction: Multiple vaccination visits and administrations can be stressful for infants, parents and healthcare providers. Multivalent combination vaccines can deliver the required number of antigens in fewer injections and clinic visits, while vaccine co-administration can also reduce the number of visits. This non-inferiority study was undertaken to evaluate the feasibility of co-administering a combined measles-mumps-rubella-varicella (MMRV) vaccine with conjugated meningococcal C (MenC) vaccine in a large cohort of healthy Italian toddlers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Over the last decades, TB has also emerged in the pediatric population. Epidemiologic data of childhood TB are still limited and there is an urgent need of more data on very large cohorts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExpert Rev Anti Infect Ther
October 2016
Objective: The Italian Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases created a registry on children with infective endocarditis (IE) hospitalized in Italy.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on patients hospitalized due to IE in Italian paediatric wards between January 1, 2000, and June 30, 2015.
Results: Over the 15-year study period, 47 IE episodes were observed (19 males; age range, 2-17 years).
Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther
December 2014
Objective: The Italian Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases created a registry to determine the management of pediatric acute mastoiditis (AM) in Italy.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey of paediatricians was conducted to evaluate hospitalization due to AM in Italian pediatric wards between 1 January 2002, and 31 December 2013.
Results: A total of 913 children (561 males, 61.
In order to evaluate the immunogenicity, safety and tolerability of influenza vaccination in children with inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs), we enrolled 20 patients with IEMs at risk of decompensation (14 males; mean age±SD, 8.5±3.9years) and 20 healthy age- and gender-matched controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMajor discrepancies are observed between experimental trials of PRRS-virus (PRRSV) infection in isolation facilities and observations made in the field on farm. Owing to the above, a cohort study was carried out in a farrow-to-finish, PRRSV-infected pig farm to characterize the time-course of the virus-specific immune response in two groups of replacement gilts. Despite the occurrence of three and two distinct waves of infection in groups 1 and 2, respectively, the large majority of animals showed little if any PRRSV-specific response in an interferon-gamma release assay on whole blood, whereas non-specific responses were consistently observed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a leading cause of invasive infection in young children causing morbidity and mortality. Active surveillance systems of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) are recommended worldwide. The aim of this study was to estimate the current incidence of IPD and to describe the serotype distribution and the antimocrobial susceptibility of S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Information on the use of new antiretroviral drugs in children in the real setting of clinical fields is largely unknown.
Methods: Data from 2554 combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) regimens administered to 911 children enrolled in the Italian Register for HIV infection in children, between 1996 and 2009, were analysed. Factors potentially associated with undetectable viral load and immunological response to cART were explored by Cox regression analysis.
Background: Growth impairment and bone toxicity due to tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) fetal exposure has been described mainly in animals. We evaluated growth pattern and bone health in TDF-exposed HIV-uninfected children born to HIV-infected mothers, defined as seroreverters (SR).
Methods: This was a multicentre observational cross-sectional cohort study enrolling 68 SR who were in utero exposed to an antiretroviral regimen including (TDF+) or not including (TDF-) tenofovir.
Background: Seasonal influenza viruses and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are primary causes of acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) in children. New respiratory viruses including human metapneumovirus (hMPV), human bocavirus (hBoV), and influenza 2009 A(H1N1) virus have a strong impact on the pediatric population.
Objectives: To evaluate epidemiological and clinical features of ARTIs in hospitalized children.
There is some evidence that early colonization of the intestine affects the composition of the intestinal microbiota after weaning. In the present study, the effect of prebiotics administered from the first day of life on fecal counts of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli were studied during and after the administration of the prebiotics. In this double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, explorative study, 20 newborns of hepatitis C virus-infected mothers who decided not to breast feed due to their concerns regarding their plasma viral load were randomly assigned to either a formula with 8 g/L of a specific prebiotic mixture (short-chain galacto-oligosaccharides and long-chain fructo-oligosaccharides, ratio 9:1) or a formula containing the same amount of maltodextrin (placebo).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe intestinal microbiota is an ecosystem formed by a variety of ecological niches, made of several bacterial species and a very large amount of strains. The microbiota is in close contact with the intestinal mucosa or epithelial interface which is, after the respiratory area, the largest surface of the body, occupying approximately 250-400 m(2). The physiological activities of the microbiota are manifold and are just being unraveled.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the time-course of the immune response to a field Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome virus (PRRSV) strain in PRRS-naïve, untreated pigs, as well as in four groups of age and breed-matched pigs injected with a live attenuated PRRS vaccine, its adjuvant, an inactivated PRRS vaccine and an irrelevant, inactivated Porcine Circovirus type 2 (PCV2) vaccine, respectively. PRRSV infection was confirmed in all groups by PCR and antibody assays. The antibody response measured by ELISA took place earlier in pigs injected with the live attenuated vaccine, which also developed a much stronger serum-neutralizing antibody response to the vaccine strain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe objective of this document is to identify and reinforce current recommendations concerning the management of HIV infection in infants and children in the context of good resource availability. All recommendations were graded according to the strength and quality of the evidence and were voted on by the 57 participants attending the first Italian Consensus on Paediatric HIV, held in Siracusa in 2008. Paediatricians and HIV/AIDS care specialists were requested to agree on different statements summarizing key issues in the management of paediatric HIV.
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