Infectious Diseases

Even in the pre-Prevnar, pre-conjugated Hib vaccine era, urinary tract infection was the most common bacterial infection found in infants who presented with fever without localizing clinical findings.

AAP recommendations for diagnosing and managing a first urinary tract infection in children aged 2 to 24 months were updated in 2011.

If you think that West Nile virus is the most common cause of neuroinvasive arboviral disease in juveniles, think again. Another arthropod-borne virus has its sights set on children. More >>

Household contacts of children infected with Staphylococcus aureus skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) are not routinely sampled for S aureus colonization. Failure to do so may facilitate persistent colonization or recurrent infections, according to a new report. More >>

The US FDA has approved a combination vaccine for preventing invasive diseases caused by Hib and Neisseria meningitis serogroups C and Y in children aged 6 weeks to 18 months.

A new study looks at using text messages to remind families to have their children vaccinated for seasonal influenza. Could text messaging make a difference in a vaccination rate that is barely more than half overall and considerably lower in low-income populations?

Although some older children and adults have been found to have cross-reactive antibodies to influenza A (H3N2) variant viruses, which were reported with increased frequency in 2011 compared with previous years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning that children aged 10 years and younger have few or no cross-reactive antibodies. What does this mean for your younger patients in the event of a sustained outbreak?

A study finding that tweens start out ambivalent toward cigarette and alcohol use also suggests that their negative associations with the substances are more easily weakened than their positive associations can be strengthened.

The first influenza vaccine to contain 2 strains of influenza A virus and 2 strains of influenza B has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for use in healthy children aged 2 years and older and adults to age 49 years.

The first meeting of the Committee on Assessment of Studies of Health Outcomes Related to the Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule was held in February in Washington, DC, at the Pew Charitable Trust.

Assessing underlying risk factors for childhood stroke is important to survival and quality of life. New findings suggest that recent minor acute infections of the ear, upper respiratory tract, and urinary tract can pose a high risk of ischemic stroke in children. These are common pediatric occurrences, so how can you identify patients at risk?

The American Academy of Pediatrics has updated its recommended immunization schedules for children and adolescents.

The mother of a 4-year old girl complained that the child had been "pulling at her bottom" for several weeks, presumably imitating her younger brother. Visual inspection of the area revealed the real problem.

A child with normal kidneys is not at significant risk of developing chronic kidney disease because of recurrent urinary tract infections.

The first rapid influenza testing system that provides a digital readout of test results for 7 strains of influenza A and B has been given 501(k) clearance and a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments waiver by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Infants who are immunized in the afternoon sleep better during the first 24 hours after immunization than those immunized earlier in the day, particularly if they have elevated temperatures.

Now more than ever you are on the front lines in the battle to get children immunized against dangerous diseases. More than 1 in 8 parents have adopted an alternative vaccination schedule for their children, with almost twice that number saying they do not believe the government’s recommended schedule is the best one to follow. You might be shocked to find out how dramatically risk increases when even 1 scheduled vaccine is skipped.

Pediatricians should just say no to drugs when considering prescribing antibiotics for conditions that don?t usually require them. That?s the position of public health officials who say that pediatricians are doing a better job of limiting antibiotic prescriptions but still have a way to go before reaching appropriate levels of use. Inappropriate use of antibiotics continues unabated in 3 of 5 acute respiratory infections. Find out which ones.

The influenza vaccine?s formulation may be unchanged from last year, but immunity in children can decline precipitously without another dose this year, according to new recommendations. The good news is that kids aged 6 months to 8 years need only 1 dose if they were vaccinated last year; others in that age group will still require 2 doses. Find out what else the new recommendations have to say, especially about immunization for youngsters with egg allergies.

The CDC is warning pediatricians to be on the lookout for influenza in patients with recent exposure to pigs after 2 separate cases of swine-origin influenza were identified in children late this summer. Clinicians are being asked to speedily obtain an analysis and to consider starting the patient on antiviral treatment to quickly limit potential human transmission if a case is identified. Find out why these cases are different from other cases of animal-transmitted influenza.

With influenza being one of the most common reasons for hospitalization of children, finding the most effective vaccination combination is increasingly important. That?s what researchers recently set out to do, finding that although the live attenuated influenza vaccine nasal spray and trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine shots are effective, only the nasal spray may confer additional immunity. Could a change in guidelines be on the horizon?

For many pediatricians, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) may be the oral antibiotic of choice when a patient presents with a community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus skin infection, but another drug?clindamycin?may actually work better, according to a new study. Find out why the experts recommend clindamycin, even though there seemed to be good reasons to prescribe TMP-SMX.

Investigators conducted a comparative examination of the practice of early resuscitation with saline or albumin fluid boluses in children with shock and life-threatening infections living in settings with limited resources.

According to an evaluation of the cost effectiveness of immunoprophylaxis with palivizumab against respiratory syncytial virus infection, based on actual cost and observed RSV incidence rates in various pediatric risk groups during the 2004 to 2005 RSV infection season in Florida, the answer is no.

A comparison of real-time polymerase-chain-reaction-based testing of liquid and dried-saliva specimens with standard rapid culture of saliva specimens obtained at birth showed that PCR assays of both types of saliva specimens have high sensitivity for detecting congenital cytomegalovirus infection.

Giving children intravenous (IV) fluids early in the course of Escherichia coli infection appears to lower the odds of developing severe renal failure.

Imagine if you had a quick and easy way to prove to a parent that their child?s illness was viral not bacterial, and that an antibiotic was not necessary. That day may be coming sooner than you think. Israel researchers have developed such a test that is time-saving, easy to perform and may soon be commercially available.

A prospective study described the uropathogen frequencies and antimicrobial resistance rates of first UTI in 209 children who were diagnosed at the ED of a Belgian hospital.

To help establish utility of surrogate markers of serious bacterial infection in the post-pneumococcal vaccination era, investigators compared the diagnostic properties of these markers and clinical evaluation for detecting SBIs.

We must realize, as physicians, that learning the "art of medicine" goes hand-in-hand with learning the art of communication.