Epidemiology and healthcare factors associated with neonatal enterococcal infections

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the epidemiology and healthcare factors associated with late-onset neonatal enterococcal infections. DESIGN: Multicentre, multinational retrospective cohort study using prospectively collected infection data from a neonatal infection surveillance network between 2004 and 2016; this was supplemented with healthcare data from a questionnaire distributed to participating neonatal units. SETTING: Sixty neonatal units across Europe (UK, Greece, Estonia) and Australia. PATIENTS: Infants admitted to participating neonatal units who had a positive culture of blood, cerebrospinal fluid or urine after 48 hours of life. RESULTS: In total, 414 episodes of invasive Enterococcus spp infection were reported in 388 infants (10.1% of a total 4083 episodes in 3602 infants). Enterococcus spp were the second most common cause of late-onset infection after coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp and were strongly associated with necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) (adjusted OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.02 to 2.03, p=0.038), total parenteral nutrition (TPN) (adjusted OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.70, p=0.016), increasing postnatal age (per 1-week increase: adjusted OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.06, p<0.001) and decreasing birth weight (per 1 kg increase: adjusted OR 0.85, 95% CI 0.74 to 0.97, p=0.017). There was no evidence that inadequate nurse to patient staffing ratios in high-dependency units were associated with a higher risk of enterococcal infections. CONCLUSIONS: Enterococcus spp were the second most frequent cause of late-onset infections. The association between enterococcal infections, NEC and TPN may inform empiric antimicrobial regimens in these contexts and provide insights into reducing these infections

SARS-CoV-2 testing and infection control strategies in European paediatric emergency departments during the first wave of the pandemic.

Between February and May 2020, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, paediatric emergency departments in 12 European countries were prospectively surveyed on their implementation of SARS-CoV-2 disease (COVID-19) testing and infection control strategies. All participating departments (23) implemented standardised case definitions, testing guidelines, early triage and infection control strategies early in the outbreak. Patient testing criteria initially focused on suspect cases and later began to include screening, mainly for hospital admissions. Long turnaround times for test results likely put additional strain on healthcare resources.Conclusion: Shortening turnaround times for SARS-CoV-2 tests should be a priority. Specific paediatric testing criteria are needed. What is Known: • WHO and public health authorities issued case definitions, testing and infection control recommendations for COVID-19 in January. • SARS-CoV-2 testing was made available across Europe in February. What is New: • Paediatric emergency departments implemented COVID-19-specific procedures rapidly, including case definitions, testing guidelines and early triage. • A third of surveyed departments waited more than 24 h for SARS-CoV-2 test to be reported, resulting in additional strain on resources

Aetiology of acute respiratory infection in preschool children requiring hospitalisation in Europe-results from the PED-MERMAIDS multicentre case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Both pathogenic bacteria and viruses are frequently detected in the nasopharynx (NP) of children in the absence of acute respiratory infection (ARI) symptoms. The aim of this study was to estimate the aetiological fractions for ARI hospitalisation in children for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza virus and to determine whether detection of specific respiratory pathogens on NP samples was associated with ARI hospitalisation. METHODS: 349 children up to 5 years of age hospitalised for ARI (following a symptom-based case definition) and 306 hospital controls were prospectively enrolled in 16 centres across seven European Union countries between 2016 and 2019. Admission day NP swabs were analysed by multiplex PCR for 25 targets. RESULTS: RSV was the leading single cause of ARI hospitalisations, with an overall population attributable fraction (PAF) of 33.4% and high seasonality as well as preponderance in younger children. Detection of RSV on NP swabs was strongly associated with ARI hospitalisation (OR adjusted for age and season: 20.6, 95% CI: 9.4 to 45.3). Detection of three other viral pathogens showed strong associations with ARI hospitalisation: influenza viruses had an adjusted OR of 6.1 (95% CI: 2.5 to 14.9), parainfluenza viruses (PIVs) an adjusted OR of 4.6 (95% CI: 1.8 to 11.3) and metapneumoviruses an adjusted OR of 4.5 (95% CI: 1.3 to 16.1). Influenza viruses had a PAF of 7.9%, PIVs of 6.5% and metapneumoviruses of 3.0%. In contrast, most other pathogens were found in similar proportions in cases and controls, including Streptococcus pneumoniae, which was weakly associated with case status, and endemic coronaviruses. CONCLUSION: RSV is the predominant cause of ARI hospitalisations in young children in Europe and its detection, as well as detection of influenza virus, PIV or metapneumovirus, on NP swabs can establish aetiology with high probability. PAFs for RSV and influenza virus are highly seasonal and age dependent

Use of the WHO Access, Watch, and Reserve classification to define patterns of hospital antibiotic use (AWaRe): an analysis of paediatric survey data from 56 countries

BACKGROUND: Improving the quality of hospital antibiotic use is a major goal of WHO's global action plan to combat antimicrobial resistance. The WHO Essential Medicines List Access, Watch, and Reserve (AWaRe) classification could facilitate simple stewardship interventions that are widely applicable globally. We aimed to present data on patterns of paediatric AWaRe antibiotic use that could be used for local and national stewardship interventions. METHODS: 1-day point prevalence survey antibiotic prescription data were combined from two independent global networks: the Global Antimicrobial Resistance, Prescribing, and Efficacy in Neonates and Children and the Global Point Prevalence Survey on Antimicrobial Consumption and Resistance networks. We included hospital inpatients aged younger than 19 years receiving at least one antibiotic on the day of the survey. The WHO AWaRe classification was used to describe overall antibiotic use as assessed by the variation between use of Access, Watch, and Reserve antibiotics, for neonates and children and for the commonest clinical indications. FINDINGS: Of the 23 572 patients included from 56 countries, 18 305 were children (77·7%) and 5267 were neonates (22·3%). Access antibiotic use in children ranged from 7·8% (China) to 61·2% (Slovenia) of all antibiotic prescriptions. The use of Watch antibiotics in children was highest in Iran (77·3%) and lowest in Finland (23·0%). In neonates, Access antibiotic use was highest in Singapore (100·0%) and lowest in China (24·2%). Reserve antibiotic use was low in all countries. Major differences in clinical syndrome-specific patterns of AWaRe antibiotic use in lower respiratory tract infection and neonatal sepsis were observed between WHO regions and countries. INTERPRETATION: There is substantial global variation in the proportion of AWaRe antibiotics used in hospitalised neonates and children. The AWaRe classification could potentially be used as a simple traffic light metric of appropriate antibiotic use. Future efforts should focus on developing and evaluating paediatric antibiotic stewardship programmes on the basis of the AWaRe index. FUNDING: GARPEC was funded by the PENTA Foundation. GARPEC-China data collection was funded by the Sanming Project of Medicine in Shenzhen (SZSM2015120330). bioMérieux provided unrestricted funding support for the Global-PPS

Congenital cytomegalovirus infection: do pregnant women and healthcare providers know enough? A systematic review

Background: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the most frequent cause of congenital infection worldwide causing serious morbidity in newborns, infants, and children. Despite the clinical importance of congenital CMV (cCMV), studies conducted so far conclude that there is limited awareness in both the medical community and public of cCMV infection. The aim of this systematic review was to assess the knowledge and awareness of cCMV among pregnant women and healthcare providers during the last decade. Methods: A literature search was performed in PubMed and Scopus, including studies published between 2011 and 2020. Eligibility criteria included articles focusing on either pregnant women or healthcare providers and reporting data about cCMV awareness. We included cross-sectional and interventional studies. Study quality was assessed using the Study Quality Assessment Tools by National Institute of Health. Results: Overall, 23 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria, 13 studies referred to pregnant women and 10 to healthcare providers. A total of 6521 pregnant women and 3609 healthcare providers were included. The level of awareness of pregnant women about cCMV was low to moderate. However, pregnant women showed willingness to adopt hygiene strategies following interventional-educational practices. Concurrently, awareness among healthcare providers varied depending on the specialty. Nonetheless, a great proportion admitted feeling inadequate in advising pregnant women for cCMV screening and prevention. Conclusion: The role of healthcare providers in growing awareness among pregnant women is of paramount importance. Due to the lack of an effective vaccine as yet, education of women regarding hygiene measures is currently the best strategy to prevent cCMV disease. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor &amp; Francis Group

Discrepancies in Management of Congenital Cytomegalovirus in Preterm Infants: An International Survey.

We performed an international survey regarding management of infants with congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) born at less than 32 weeks gestation or with birth weight under 1500 g. Replies from 51 level 3 neonatal intensive care units across 13 countries demonstrated striking discrepancies in screening practices, testing for cCMV, further investigations of confirmed cases, indications for initiation, and duration of treatment

Maternal vaccination against pertussis: a systematic review of the recent literature

Objective This study is conducted to summarise and present the current knowledge on antenatal vaccination against pertussis with regard to national recommendations, coverage, immunogenicity, safety and effectiveness of the current available vaccines. Methods A systematic review of the literature in English was undertaken from January 2011 to May 2016 with searches in four databases. The review conformed to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Results 47 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Antenatal vaccination against pertussis induces high antibody concentrations in pregnant women, which are efficiently transferred transplacentally to the fetus and protect newborns when they are most vulnerable to pertussis. This strategy has been demonstrated to be safe, with no evidence of adverse pregnancy, birth or neonatal outcomes. Several countries have already introduced antenatal pertussis vaccination into their national immunisation programme with varying vaccination coverage influenced by various factors. Barriers to achieving high immunisation rates could be improved through better education of the public and healthcare professionals. Conclusions There is now an increasing body of evidence to support the safety, immunogenicity and effectiveness of antenatal vaccination to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with pertussis in neonates and young infants before they receive their primary immunisations. Narrowing the gap between scientific evidence and public health policies is critical in order to protect the most vulnerable as quickly as possible. The lessons learnt have important implications for implementation of new vaccines into the antenatal immunisation programme

Vaccination coverage among school children in Western Greece from 2016 to 2019

Vaccine hesitancy has increased, which has an effect on vaccine uptake. The aim of our study was to investigate childhood vaccination coverage in Western Greece and identify factors affecting it. We also aimed to assess trends in childhood vaccination coverage nationwide. A cross-sectional study was conducted (2016–2019) in all the primary schools in Patras, the third largest city in the country. Data collection was undertaken using child vaccination booklets and questionnaires on socio-demographics. Multiple regression analyses were performed to evaluate relevant associations. We also performed a systematic review of published data on childhood vaccination coverage in Greece during the last two decades. Data for 1657 children was collected and 371 questionnaires were returned. High vaccination coverage (>90%) was observed for the majority of the vaccines. For the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), coverage with four doses, as recommended at the time of study, was suboptimal (39.2%). For human papillomavirus vaccines and the meningococcal serogroup B vaccine, full vaccination coverage was 2.6% and 6.5%, respectively. No association with socio-demographics was found for vaccines with high coverage. For PCV the number of doses given was related to Greek nationality (β = 0.185, p < .001) and parental employment status (β = −0.115, p = .043). Compared to previous studies (16 eligible), there was a trend toward higher coverage. Public health interventions should focus on increasing vaccine uptake of specific vaccines among populations with particular characteristics. A national network recording vaccine coverage is urgently required in the country to monitor vaccine uptake and assess trends over time