Clinical Experiences in Pertussis in a Population with High Vaccination Rate

Infection caused by Bordetella pertussis in young infants can lead to severe illness and death. Several countries with good pertussis vaccine coverage, above 90%, had outbreaks of this disease from 2010, including Brazil. One of the strategies to reduce the transmission of pertussis to young infants, especially below 6 months of age, is the introduction of Tdap vaccination in pregnant women between 27 and 36 weeks of gestation. Vaccination of pregnant women with Tdap is an emergency measure to reduce hospitalizations and deaths from pertussis in young infants, especially those younger than 3 months of age, which is the population group where the most frequent serious illness occurs. Passive immunity to pertussis in these newborns is temporary, lasting less than 6 months, and there is discussion in the literature of its interference with maternal immunity and immunity of young infants to other vaccines. The acquired immunity to pertussis, both by natural disease and by vaccines, is temporary, and it is known that the immune response to the acellular vaccine is smaller and less durable than the whole-cell vaccine. New strategies for pertussis control should be developed to better cope with this disease overall

Access to drinking water and sewage treatment in Brazil: a challenge for the control of waterborne infectious diseases

Not Applicabl

Relationship between birth weight and infant growth in the first year of life and risk factors to cardiovascular diseases of adults followed at Health Center School Prof. Samuel B. Pessoa from Butantã neighborhood, São Paulo, born between 1977 and 1989

A ocorrência de doença cardiovascular não pode ser explicada somente pelo estilo de vida do adulto. Estudos ecológicos e epidemiológicos dos últimos vinte anos demonstraram maior incidência de doenças crônicas não transmissíveis em indivíduos que nasceram com baixo peso e tiveram um ganho de peso inadequado nos dois primeiros anos de vida. A hipótese aceita atualmente é a de que agravos, principalmente nutricionais, ocorridos durante a gestação alteram a programação de órgãos e sistemas para preservar, principalmente, o desenvolvimento cerebral, levando ao sacrifício metabólico de vários órgãos, como rins, fígado, coração, pâncreas, que ao serem solicitados na vida adulta, teriam menor capacidade funcional. Esta teoria foi chamada Hipótese de Barker ou do Fenótipo Poupador. Este trabalho tem como objetivo avaliar o peso de nascimento e do primeiro ano de vida de adultos usuários do Centro de Saúde-Escola Prof. Samuel B. Pessoa, que foram matriculados quando lactentes e que estão atualmente em seguimento nesta unidade de saúde, correlacionando com a sua condição de saúde atual, para tentar demonstrar a teoria das origens desenvolvimentistas da saúde e da doença em nosso meio. A anamnese clínica, medidas da cintura abdominal, cintura quadril, pressão arterial, freqüência cardíaca, e exames laboratoriais, tais como colesterol total e frações, triglicérides, glicemia de jejum foram estudados. Constituiu-se um grupo de 298 usuários, com média de idade de 25 anos, sendo 212 mulheres e 86 homens. Após a execução do estudo observamos que não houve diferença estatisticamente significante em relação a anamnese e aos exames laboratoriais alterados dos adultos, quando se compararam aos grupos com baixo peso de nascimento, nem quando comparados aos grupos com peso baixo com um ano de idade. O acompanhamento destes de adultos, por duas a três décadas, poderá trazer dados que venham a ajudar a comprovar a teoria das origens desenvolvimentistas da saúde e da doença em nosso meio. A prevenção primordial, isto é, antes do nascimento, das doenças crônicas não transmissíveis será o objetivo futuro da Pediatria PreventivaThe appearance of a cardiovascular disease cannot be explained only by the adults lifestyle. Ecological and epidemiological studies from the last twenty years show a more frequent incidence of non-communicable chronic diseases in individuals that were born under the ideal weight and had an inadequate gain of weight during their first two years. The hypothesis initially accepted is that certain deficiencies, mainly nutritional, that occurred during pregnancy alter the programming of organs and systems in order to preserve the cerebral development. This process may lead to metabolic sacrifice of many organs, including liver, kidneys, heart and pancreas, which will have a worse functional capacity when necessary in adult life. This theory was called Barker Hypothesis or Thrifty Phenotype Hypothesis. This research project has for objective the comparation of the weight at birth and during the first year of life from adults whose health is followed at Health Center School Prof. Samuel B. Pessoa. This group of adults was subscripted when its members were infants. A correlation between their present health and their health conditions when infants was made during this study in order to try to demonstrate in our environment the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. The basis of the study was the clinical anamneses, the measures of the abdominal waist, hip, arterial pressure, cardiac frequency and some laboratorial examinations, such as total and fractional cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting glucose levels. A group of 298 patients was formed, with an average age of 25 years-old members. 212 of them were women and 86 were men. After this study, it was concluded that the underweight at birth and underweight during the first year of life do not lead to alterations statistically relevant in the anamneses and in the laboratorial examinations. The following of these adults during two or three decades may bring data that might help to prove the developmental origins of health and disease theory in our environment. The primordial prevention (before the child is born) of non-communicable chronic diseases will be the future target of Preventive Pediatric

The etiology of extensive pleural effusions with troublesome clinical course among children

CONTEXT: In São Paulo, pneumonia is the main infectious cause of death among children. Parapneumonic pleural effusion is a possible complication and has to be treated surgically when the patient does not respond to antibiotics. OBJECTIVE: Assessment of the etiology of complicated parapneumonic pleural effusions that needed surgical intervention. TYPE OF STUDY: Retrospective study. SETTING: University hospital of the University of São Paulo. METHOD: Analysis of 4,000 files on children hospitalized with pneumonia from November 1986 to November 1996 had shown that 115 of these children presented a total of 117 cases of pleural empyema that required surgical procedures. The children's clinical condition was assessed in relation to radiological findings and to their nutrition and immunization status. Previous antimicrobial therapy and pleural effusion bacterioscopy were also evaluated. RESULTS: Streptococcus pneumoniae was the agent found most commonly, as frequently in blood cultures as in pleural effusions. DISCUSSION: Data on vaccination coverage, birth weight and nutritional status are analyzed and compared to other publications. We observed that pleural effusion has a high potential for discomfort, and in most cases it is not a complication of the first pulmonary disease episode. Previous use of antibiotics interfered with culture positivity. The agent most frequently found was Streptococcus pneumoniae, which is in accordance with the findings from other authors. Nonetheless, the antibiotics used to treat the patients after the procedure were the same used in non-complicated pneumonias, which has led us to conclude that the worse outcome in this cases was not due to drug resistance. CONCLUSION: The bacteriological profile in our series of complicated pneumonia cases was similar to what has been described for non-complicated pneumonia cases. Future studies will be necessary to determine why these children presented a worse outcome

The Intergenerational Effects on Birth Weight and Its Relations to Maternal Conditions, São Paulo, Brazil

Background and Objectives. Parents’ birth weight acts as a predictor for the descendant birth weight, with the correlation more strongly transmitted through maternal line. The present research aims to study the correlation between the child’s low or increased birth weight, the mother’s birth weight, and maternal conditions. Methods. 773 mother-infant binomials were identified with information on both the baby’s and the mother’s birth weight recorded. Group studies were constituted, dividing the sample according to birth weight (<2,500 grams (g) and ≥3,500 grams (g)). The length at birth was also studied in children ≤47.5 cm (lower quartile). Chi2 test or Fisher’s exact test, Spearman’s Rho, and odds ratio were performed in order to investigate the relation between the children’s weight and length at birth and the mothers’ and children’s variables. Results. The girls were heavier at birth than their mothers, with an average increase at birth weight between the generations of 79 g. The child’s birth weight <2,500 g did not show any correlation with maternal birth weight <2,500 g (Fisher 0.264; Spearman’s Rho 0.048; OR 2.1 and OR lower 0.7) or with maternal stature below the lower quartile (<157 cm) (Chi2 sig 0.323; with Spearman’s Rho 0.036; OR 1.5 and OR lower 0.7). The child’s low birth weight (<2,500 g) was lightly correlated with drug use by the mother during pregnancy (Fisher 0.083; Spearman’s Rho 0.080; OR 4.9 and OR lower 1.0). The child’s birth weight <2,500 g showed increased correlation with gestational age lower than 38 weeks and 3 days (Chi2 sig 0.002; Spearman’s Rho 0.113; OR 3.2 and OR lower 1.5). The child’s weight at birth ≥3,500 g showed strong correlation with maternal weight at birth ≥3,500 g (Chi2 sig 0; Spearman’s Rho +0.142; OR 0.5 and OR upper 0.7). It was also revealed that the higher the maternal prepregnancy BMI, the stronger the correlation with child’s birth weight ≥3,500 g ((maternal prepregnancy BMI>25.0 with Chi2 sig 0.013; Spearman’s Rho 0.09; OR 1.54 and OR upper 2.17) and (maternal prepregnancy BMI>30.0 with Chi2 sig 0 Spearman’s Rho 0.137; OR 2.58 and OR upper 4.26)). The child’s length at birth in the lower quartile (≤47.5 cm) showed strong correlation with drug use by the mother during pregnancy (Chi2 sig 0.004; Spearman’s Rho 0.105; OR 4.3 and OR lower 1.5). Conclusions. The mother’s increased weight at birth and the prenatal overweight or obesity were correlated with increased weight and length at birth of the newborn, coupled with the tendency of increasing birth weight between generations of mothers and daughters. Also, descendants with smaller length at birth are the children of women with the lowest statures

Relation between Birth Weight, Growth, and Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Adulthood

Background and Objectives. Adverse conditions in the prenatal environment and in the first years of life are independently associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease. This paper aims to study the relation between birthweight, growth in the first year of life, and subclinical atherosclerosis in adults. Methods. 88 adults aged between 20 and 31 were submitted to sociodemographic qualities, anthropometric data, blood pressure measurements, metabolic profile, and evaluation of subclinical atherosclerosis. Results. Birthweight <2,500 grams (g) was negatively correlated with (a) increased waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), according to regression coefficient (RC) equal to −0.323, 95% CI [−0.571, −0.075] P<0.05; (b) diastolic blood pressure (RC = −4.744, 95% CI [−9.017, −0.470] P<0.05); (c) low HDL-cholesterol (RC = −0.272, 95% CI [−0.516, −0.029] P<0.05); (d) frequency of intima-media thickness (IMT) of left carotid >75th percentile (RC = −0.242, 95% CI [−0.476, −0.008] P<0.05). Birthweight >3,500 g was associated with (a) BMI >25.0 kg/m2, (RC = 0.317, 95% CI [0.782, 0.557] P<0.05); (b) increased waist circumference (RC = 0.284, 95% CI [0.054, 0.513] P<0.05); (c) elevated WHR (RC = 0.280, 95% CI [0.054, 0.505] P<0.05); (d) minimum subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) (RC = 4.354, 95% CI [0.821, 7.888] P<0.05); (e) maximum SAT (RC = 7.095, 95% CI [0.608, 13.583] P<0.05); (f) right lobe of the liver side (RC = 6.896, 95% CI [1.946, 11.847] P<0.001); (g) frequency’s right lobe of the liver >75th percentile (RC = 0.361, 95% CI [0.169, 0.552] P<0.001). Weight gain in the first year of life was inversely correlated with (a) mean IMT of left carotid (RC = −0.046, 95% CI [−0.086, −0.006] P<0.05; (b) frequency IMT of left carotid >75th percentile (RC = −0.253, 95% CI [−0.487, −0.018] P<0.05); (c) mean IMT (RC = −0.038, 95% CI [0.073, −0.002] P<0.05); (d) the frequency of the mean IMT >75th percentile (RC = −0.241, 95% CI [−0.442, −0.041] P<0.05). Conclusions. Adults birthweight <2,500 g and >3,500 g and with insufficient weight gain in the first year of life have showed different metabolic phenotypes, but all of them were related to subclinical atherosclerosis