Pleural antigen assay in the diagnosis of pediatric pneumococcal empyema.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to assess the diagnostic value of rapid pneumococcal antigen detection (PAD) in pleural fluid samples of children with empyema.

Material And Methods: We performed a prospective evaluation in a pediatric intensive care unit of a tertiary university hospital of children aged 1 month to 14 years admitted with empyema. Standard cultures (conventional microbiological culture [CMC]), PAD by immunochromatographic testing (Binax NOW Streptococcus pneumoniae; Binax, Portland, ME), and/or real-time polymerase chain reactions (RTPs) on pleural samples were performed in all included patients.

Clinical characteristics of children with group A streptococcal toxic shock syndrome admitted to pediatric intensive care units.

Unlabelled: Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS) is a very rare and severe form of group A streptococcal infection whose clinical characteristics, therapy, morbidity, and mortality in children are not well known. Our objective was to describe the clinical characteristics of STSS in a series of children admitted to pediatric intensive care units (PICU). A multicenter, retrospective study of children with STSS admitted to 14 PICUs between January 1998 and December 2009 was conducted.