Aplastic anemia following varicella vaccine.

Varicella zoster vaccine is a safe vaccine that is rarely associated with life-threatening complications. We describe an immunocompetent child who developed transient severe aplastic anemia concomitant with a typical clinical and laboratory-proven chickenpox syndrome 3 weeks after immunization. A causative association between the vaccine and the hematologic disease is possible, and pediatricians should be aware of this severe although rare adverse event.

Neurologic abnormalities in patients with adenosine deaminase deficiency.

Defects in adenosine deaminase enzyme cause severe immunodeficiency. Without enzyme replacement or allogeneic bone marrow transplantation, patients often suffer fatal infection in infancy. Adenosine deaminase is expressed ubiquitously; deficiency may affect various organs, including the brain.

Difficulties in making the diagnosis of Hirschsprung disease in early infancy.

This study highlights the less common presentations of Hirschsprung disease (HD) and HD-associated enterocolitis (HAE) in neonates and infants. We present three infants whose diagnosis was delayed because of atypical presenting features, especially with failure to gain weight, decreased appetite, episodes of diarrhoea and vomiting and hypoalbuminaemia. The reported incidence of HAE ranges from 0 to 16.

Thrombocytopenia in Kawasaki disease: a risk factor for the development of coronary artery aneurysms.

The authors report on a 2-year-old boy with atypical Kawasaki disease (KD) and thrombocytopenia who developed 3 coronary artery aneurysms. The mechanism of thrombocytopenia in KD seems to be consumption coagulopathy. Review of the 30 reported cases of KD and thrombocytopenia revealed that this combination is more common in girls and in young age groups, and is associated with an increased risk of coronary artery aneurysm and myocardial infarction.

[The severity and prolonged morbidity of community acquired pneumonia caused by group A Streptococcus].

We describe a case report of a sixteen year old patient who was admitted with severe group A streptococcal (GAS) pleuro-pneumonia, underwent pleurocentesis and recovered after two weeks of hospitalization, although complete recovery lasted for another three weeks. The present publication aims to highlight the severe, prolonged and complicated course of GAS pneumonia in children which has not yet been reported in Israel. Accurate diagnosis is crucial for appropriate therapy, which is a prolonged i.