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Microorganisms
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Childhood Infections
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Childhood Infections

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Medical Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2023) | Viewed by 15251

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Manuela Ceccarelli

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
Interests: HIV; antimicrobial stewardship; clinical microbiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Childhood infections are receiving increasing attention at present, and are important both for their short- and long-term consequences and for their impact on society. Infections can burden a child’s life even before their birth, causing severe damage in a previously healthy fetus. Moreover, even if new drugs are available to fight infectious diseases in children, those are often not tested on children, and therefore might be used only in high-risk situations.

This Special Issue will publish research works on any aspects of infections during childhood, from pathogenesis to treatment, with the aim of providing up-to-date information to specialists and general practitioners.

As Guest Editor of this Special Issue, I would like to invite you to submit research articles, review articles, and short communications dealing with different aspects of infections during childhood.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Manuela Ceccarelli
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • antimicrobial stewardship
  • COVID-19
  • vertically transmitted infections
  • antimicrobial treatments
  • parasitic infections
  • bacterial infections
  • viral infections
  • fungal infections
  • newborn
  • child

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 15838 KiB  
Article
Associations of Microbial Diversity with Age and Other Clinical Variables among Pediatric Chronic Rhinosinusitis (CRS) Patients
by Shen Jean Lim, Warit Jithpratuck, Kathleen Wasylik, Panida Sriaroon and Larry J. Dishaw
Microorganisms 2023, 11(2), 422; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11020422 - 07 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1327
Abstract
Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a heterogenous disease that causes persistent paranasal sinus inflammation in children. Microorganisms are thought to contribute to the etiology and progression of CRS. Culture-independent microbiome analysis offers deeper insights into sinonasal microbial diversity and microbe–disease associations than culture-based methods. [...] Read more.
Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a heterogenous disease that causes persistent paranasal sinus inflammation in children. Microorganisms are thought to contribute to the etiology and progression of CRS. Culture-independent microbiome analysis offers deeper insights into sinonasal microbial diversity and microbe–disease associations than culture-based methods. To date, CRS-related microbiome studies have mostly focused on the adult population, and only one study has characterized the pediatric CRS microbiome. In this study, we analyzed the bacterial diversity of adenoid tissue, adenoid swab, maxillary sinus, and sinus wash samples from 45 pediatric CRS patients recruited from the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital (JHACH) in St. Petersburg, FL, USA. The alpha diversity in these samples was associated with baseline nasal steroid use, leukotriene receptor antagonist (LTRA) use, and total serum immunoglobulin (Ig) E (IgE) level. Streptococcus, Moraxella, and Haemophilus spp. were most frequently identified from sinus cultures and the sequenced 16S rRNA gene content. Comparative analyses combining our samples with the samples from the previous microbiome study revealed differentially abundant genera between patients with pediatric CRS and healthy controls, including Cutibacterium and Moraxella. Additionally, the abundances of Streptobacillus and Staphylococcus were consistently correlated with age in both adenoid- and sinus-derived samples. Our study uncovers new associations of alpha diversity with clinical parameters, as well as associations of specific genera with disease status and age, that can be further investigated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Childhood Infections)
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12 pages, 686 KiB  
Article
Performance of Urine Reagent Strips in Detecting the Presence and Estimating the Prevalence and Intensity of Schistosoma haematobium Infection
by Abraham Degarege, Abebe Animut, Yohannes Negash and Berhanu Erko
Microorganisms 2022, 10(10), 2062; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10102062 - 19 Oct 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1248
Abstract
The performance of the urine reagent strips (URS) in detecting the presence and estimating the intensity of Schistosoma haematobium infection was evaluated using urine filtration microscopy as a reference standard. Urine samples collected from 1288 school-age children living in five villages of the [...] Read more.
The performance of the urine reagent strips (URS) in detecting the presence and estimating the intensity of Schistosoma haematobium infection was evaluated using urine filtration microscopy as a reference standard. Urine samples collected from 1288 school-age children living in five villages of the Afar and one village in the Gambella Regional States of Ethiopia between October 2021 and April 2022 were examined using urine filtration and URS. The prevalence of S. haematobium infection was 31.6% based on urine filtration and 32.1% using URS. Using results of the urine filtration as a reference, the sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive values, and accuracy of the URS in detecting S. haematobium egg-positive urine specimens were 73.7%, 87.8%, 87.1%, and 82.8%, respectively. Sensitivity increased significantly with an increase in the urine egg count. Specificity was greater in low prevalence settings and among children aged 5–9 years. The level of hematuria detected was trace (19.1%), weak (30.2%), moderate (36.0%), or high (14.7%). The log odds of showing higher-level hematuria significantly increased as the number of egg counts in urine increased. In conclusion, URS remains good in rapidly screening individuals for S. haematobium infection, but the sensitivity of the test could be lower, particularly when the intensity of the infection is light. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Childhood Infections)
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Review

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12 pages, 315 KiB  
Review
The Common Cold and Influenza in Children: To Treat or Not to Treat?
by Natalia A. Geppe, Andrey L. Zaplatnikov, Elena G. Kondyurina, Maria M. Chepurnaya and Natalia G. Kolosova
Microorganisms 2023, 11(4), 858; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11040858 - 28 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2923
Abstract
The common cold, which is mostly caused by respiratory viruses and clinically represented by the symptoms of acute respiratory viral infections (ARVI) with mainly upper respiratory tract involvement, is an important problem in pediatric practice. Due to the high prevalence, socio-economic burden, and [...] Read more.
The common cold, which is mostly caused by respiratory viruses and clinically represented by the symptoms of acute respiratory viral infections (ARVI) with mainly upper respiratory tract involvement, is an important problem in pediatric practice. Due to the high prevalence, socio-economic burden, and lack of effective prevention measures (except for influenza and, partially, RSV infection), ARVI require strong medical attention. The purpose of this descriptive literature review was to analyze the current practical approaches to the treatment of ARVI to facilitate the choice of therapy in routine practice. This descriptive overview includes information on the causative agents of ARVI. Special attention is paid to the role of interferon gamma as a cytokine with antiviral and immunomodulatory effects on the pathogenesis of ARVI. Modern approaches to the treatment of ARVI, including antiviral, pathogenesis-directed and symptomatic therapy are presented. The emphasis is on the use of antibody-based drugs in the immunoprophylaxis and immunotherapy of ARVI. The data presented in this review allow us to conclude that a modern, balanced and evidence-based approach to the choice of ARVI treatment in children should be used in clinical practice. The published results of clinical trials and systematic reviews with meta-analyses of ARVI in children allow us to conclude that it is possible and expedient to use broad-spectrum antiviral drugs in complex therapy. This approach can provide an adequate response of the child’s immune system to the virus without limiting the clinical possibilities of using only symptomatic therapy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Childhood Infections)
11 pages, 600 KiB  
Review
SARS-CoV-2: The Impact of Co-Infections with Particular Reference to Mycoplasma pneumonia—A Clinical Review
by Silvia Marino, Piero Pavone, Lidia Marino, Giuseppe Nunnari, Manuela Ceccarelli, Claudio Coppola, Chiara Distefano and Raffaele Falsaperla
Microorganisms 2022, 10(10), 1936; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10101936 - 29 Sep 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2926
Abstract
Background: After its 2019 outbreak in Wuhan, scientists worldwide have been studying the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in children. Evidence indicates that children with SARS-CoV-2 infection are more likely to develop upper and lower respiratory [...] Read more.
Background: After its 2019 outbreak in Wuhan, scientists worldwide have been studying the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in children. Evidence indicates that children with SARS-CoV-2 infection are more likely to develop upper and lower respiratory tract infections in association with other infectious agents, such as Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Here, we conducted a systematic review of SARS-CoV-2 and Mycoplasma pneumoniae co-infection and their clinical course in children. Methods: We evaluated the published literature on SARS-CoV-2 by using the medical databases PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and Web of Science. In the searches, the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms “SARS-CoV-2 and Mycoplasma pneumoniae” AND “co-infection SARS-CoV-2” were used. Studies describing co-infection with SARS-CoV-2 and Mycoplasma pneumoniae in children were included in the review. The study was conducted and reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Results: According to the PRISMA guidelines, of the 38 identified studies, 14 were conducted in children (children/adolescents 0–18 years), 6 of which were included in this review. In total, 5867 children under the age of 17 years were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection through real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis of nasopharyngeal swabs to detect viral RNA. Elevated serum IgM levels specific to Mycoplasma pneumoniae were observed in 534 children and were associated with a Kawasaki-like illness in one child. To date, all of the children are alive. Conclusion: This study underlines the importance of considering, depending on the clinical context, a possible co-infection between SARS-CoV-2 and atypical bacteria, such as Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Co-infections with other respiratory pathogens during the pandemic and hospital stay can cause mistakes in clinical diagnostic and drug treatment. Physicians should perform early differential diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 in association with other infectious agents. Further studies are needed to have a real incidence of these co-infections and their impact on symptoms, course, and outcome of patients with SARS-CoV-2. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Childhood Infections)
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13 pages, 610 KiB  
Review
Visceral Leishmaniasis: Epidemiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment Regimens in Different Geographical Areas with a Focus on Pediatrics
by Sara Scarpini, Arianna Dondi, Camilla Totaro, Carlotta Biagi, Fraia Melchionda, Daniele Zama, Luca Pierantoni, Monia Gennari, Cinzia Campagna, Arcangelo Prete and Marcello Lanari
Microorganisms 2022, 10(10), 1887; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10101887 - 21 Sep 2022
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 6146
Abstract
Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a vector-borne disease caused by an intracellular protozoa of the genus Leishmania that can be lethal if not treated. VL is caused by Leishmania donovani in Asia and in Eastern Africa, where the pathogens’ reservoir is represented by humans, [...] Read more.
Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a vector-borne disease caused by an intracellular protozoa of the genus Leishmania that can be lethal if not treated. VL is caused by Leishmania donovani in Asia and in Eastern Africa, where the pathogens’ reservoir is represented by humans, and by Leishmania infantum in Latin America and in the Mediterranean area, where VL is a zoonotic disease and dog is the main reservoir. A part of the infected individuals become symptomatic, with irregular fever, splenomegaly, anemia or pancytopenia, and weakness, whereas others are asymptomatic. VL treatment has made progress in the last decades with the use of new drugs such as liposomal amphotericin B, and with new therapeutic regimens including monotherapy or a combination of drugs, aiming at shorter treatment duration and avoiding the development of resistance. However, the same treatment protocol may not be effective all over the world, due to differences in the infecting Leishmania species, so depending on the geographical area. This narrative review presents a comprehensive description of the clinical picture of VL, especially in children, the diagnostic approach, and some insight into the most used pharmacological therapies available worldwide. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Childhood Infections)
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