Tracheobronchial calcifications in a child

Three months old child was admitted in the department of pediatrics I for respiratory distress, fever and laryngeal stridor. He was born to consanguineous parents. The prenatal history was unremarkable. However, he was hospitalized at birth for respiratory distress which improved quickly with oxygen nasal cannula. Since one month old, he was presenting a laryngeal stridor, persistent cough and chest congestion. Clinical examination found a dyspnea, stridor occuring in both phases of respiration, signs of retractions, a dysmorphic face with mid-facial hypoplasia and brachytelephalengia. The chest x-ray showed calcifications involving the entire tracheobronchial tree. A chest computed tomography revealed bilateral and symmetrical calcifications involving the anterior cartilaginous part of the trachea and the stem bronchi. The transthoracic ultrasound was normal. Routine physicochemical examinations found a low prothrombin time with decrease in the levels of vitamin-k dependent coagulation factors. The clinical course was favorable with oxygen nasal cannula and respiratory physiotherapy. The diagnosis of Keutel syndrome was made on calcifications of the tracheal cartilage associated to brachytelephalengia, and also facial dysmorphism

Knowledge gaps on paediatric respiratory infections in Morocco, Northern Africa

BACKGROUND: The burden of acute respiratory infections (ARI) among Moroccan children remains significant. However, scarce information is available regarding trends in its epidemiology and etiology, or regarding its associated prognostic factors. The purpose of this work was to review available data on the burden of ARI among children under five years of age in Morocco. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted for the period 1997-2014 using the PRISMA proposed methodology. Various online databases were screened, in addition to physical libraries of Moroccan medical schools, and official reports of the Moroccan Ministry of Health. Search queries in English and French languages included: Respiratory Tract Infections, pneumonia, epidemiology, etiology, microbiology, mortality and Morocco. The documents were included for analysis when they reported original data on the incidence, distribution, or a clinical description of the diseases or their etiology or described clinical management or national preventive strategies. RESULTS: Thirty-two documents were included in the final analysis. 21 of which had been published. In 2012, ARI caused 13% of paediatric deaths, half of the consultations at health facilities and third of the paediatric admissions. The microorganisms more frequently identified among hospitalized children were Streptococcus pneumoniae (38%) and Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) (15%). The MOH introduced Hib vaccines into the national immunization program (PNI) in 2007and the 13-valent vaccine against pneumococcus in 2010. The national first line antibiotics recommended for non-severe ambulatory treatment is Amoxicillin. Studies of antibiotic resistance showed from 1998 to 2008 a 22% increase in the rate of penicillin non-susceptibility among Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates. Viral respiratory infections and the role attributed to air pollution in the incidence of ARI have been poorly characterized. CONCLUSIONS: Further efforts should be made towards the development of adequate surveillance programs to better clarify the epidemiology, etiology, antimicrobial susceptibility patterns and the effectiveness of the preventives and curatives strategies in place against paediatric ARIs in Morocco. Additionally, a holistical approach should be used to identify the heath determinants of ARIs among children

Profil épidémiologique des pathologies respiratoires chez l’enfant à l’Hôpital d’Enfants de Rabat, Maroc

Introduction: les pathologies respiratoires représentent un motif fréquent d'hospitalisation en pédiatrie. L'objectif de cette étude était d'évaluer le profil épidémiologique des pathologies respiratoires chez l'enfant à l'hôpital d'enfants de Rabat, Maroc. Méthodes: il s'agit d'une étude observationnelle transversale qui a concerné tous les cas d'enfants âgés de 3 mois à 15 ans hospitalisés pour une pathologie respiratoire au service de pneumoallergologie et infectiologie pédiatriques de l'hôpital d'enfants de Rabat sur une période d'une année, du 1 janvier 2014 au 31 décembre 2014. Résultats: sur 3537 patients hospitalisés, 2493 (70,5%) l'ont été pour une pathologie respiratoire. Les hospitalisations pour exacerbation d'asthme (p < 0,001), bronchiolite aigüe (p < 0,001) et dyspnée laryngée (p = 0,004) étaient plus fréquentes chez le garçon alors que les hospitalisations pour pneumopathie aigüe (p = 0,005), pour inhalation de corps étranger (p = 0,007) et pour coqueluche (p = 0,020) étaient plus fréquentes chez la fille. Les hospitalisations pour pneumopathie aigüe (p < 0,001), exacerbation de séquelles graves de virose (p < 0,001) et pour coqueluche (p < 0,001) étaient plus fréquentes chez le nourrisson. Les hospitalisations pour pneumopathie aigüe (p < 0,001) et pour coqueluche (p = 0,015) étaient plus fréquentes en période automnohivernale. Conclusion: les motifs d'hospitalisation étaient dominés par les exacerbations d'asthme et la bronchiolite aigüe, lesquelles étaient plus fréquentes chez le garçon. Les infections respiratoires, représentées par les pneumopathies aigües et la coqueluche, étaient plus fréquentes en période automnohivernale et touchaient plus le nourrisson

Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage among healthy and sick pediatric patients before the generalized implementation of the 13-valent pneumococcal vaccine in Morocco from 2010 to 2011

Nasopharyngeal carriage studies provide insights into the local prevalence of circulating pneumococcal serotypes. These data are critical to vaccination monitoring, as they allow for the prediction and assessment of impact. Very little data are available on the carriage of pneumococcal serotypes in Morocco. Here, we describe the prevalence of Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage and serotype distribution among 697 pediatric patients with ages ranging from 2 to 59 months who were admitted to a Moroccan hospital with severe pneumonia, as well as 195 healthy infants and young children who were recruited at a vaccination clinic. Carriage rates were 40.5% (79/195) for healthy children and 22.8% (159/697) for sick children. The most commonly observed circulating serotypes included 6A, 6B and 19F, all of which are included in the current 13-valent anti-pneumococcal conjugate vaccine that was recently introduced in Morocco. Monitoring of circulating serotypes remains necessary after vaccine introduction to assess whether serotype replacement is occurring

Patient with CHARGE syndrome

A two-years-old boy presenting multiple anomaly syndrome (congenital heart disease, Tetralogy of Fallot, bilateral ear anomalies, and micropenis) was consulted in the Pneumo-allergology unit of Rabat children hospital in Morocco. It was ruled out the possibility of multiple deformities caused by genomic imbalances. The patient was then clinically considered to have CHARGE syndrome, an autosomal dominant multi-system disorder involving defects in multiple organs

An Exploration of Features Impacting Respiratory Diseases in Urban Areas

Air pollution exposure has become ubiquitous and is increasingly detrimental to human health. Small Particulate matter (PM) is one of the most harmful forms of air pollution. It can easily infiltrate the lungs and trigger several respiratory diseases, especially in vulnerable populations such as children and elderly people. In this work, we start by leveraging a retrospective study of 416 children suffering from respiratory diseases. The study revealed that asthma prevalence was the most common among several respiratory diseases, and that most patients suffering from those diseases live in areas of high traffic, noise, and greenness. This paved the way to the construction of the MOREAIR dataset by combining feature abstraction and micro-level scale data collection. Unlike existing data sets, MOREAIR is rich in context-specific components, as it includes 52 temporal or geographical features, in addition to air-quality measurements. The use of Random Forest uncovered the most important features for the understanding of air-quality distribution in Moroccan urban areas. By linking the medical data and the MOREAIR dataset, we observed that the patients included in the medical study come mostly from neighborhoods that are characterized by either high average or high variations of pollution levels

Machine Learning for Predicting the Risk for Childhood Asthma Using Prenatal, Perinatal, Postnatal and Environmental Factors

The prevalence rate for childhood asthma and its associated risk factors vary significantly across countries and regions. In the case of Morocco, the scarcity of available medical data makes scientific research on diseases such as asthma very challenging. In this paper, we build machine learning models to predict the occurrence of childhood asthma using data from a prospective study of 202 children with and without asthma. The association between different factors and asthma diagnosis is first assessed using a Chi-squared test. Then, predictive models such as logistic regression analysis, decision trees, random forest and support vector machine are used to explore the relationship between childhood asthma and the various risk factors. First, data were pre-processed using a Chi-squared feature selection, 19 out of the 36 factors were found to be significantly associated (p-value < 0.05) with childhood asthma; these include: history of atopic diseases in the family, presence of mites, cold air, strong odors and mold in the child’s environment, mode of birth, breastfeeding and early life habits and exposures. For asthma prediction, random forest yielded the best predictive performance (accuracy = 84.9%), followed by logistic regression (accuracy = 82.57%), support vector machine (accuracy = 82.5%) and decision trees (accuracy = 75.19%). The decision tree model has the advantage of being easily interpreted. This study identified important maternal and prenatal risk factors for childhood asthma, the majority of which are avoidable. Appropriate steps are needed to raise awareness about the prenatal risk factors

Knowledge gaps on paediatric respiratory infections in Morocco, Northern Africa

BACKGROUND: The burden of acute respiratory infections (ARI) among Moroccan children remains significant. However, scarce information is available regarding trends in its epidemiology and etiology, or regarding its associated prognostic factors. The purpose of this work was to review available data on the burden of ARI among children under five years of age in Morocco. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted for the period 1997-2014 using the PRISMA proposed methodology. Various online databases were screened, in addition to physical libraries of Moroccan medical schools, and official reports of the Moroccan Ministry of Health. Search queries in English and French languages included: Respiratory Tract Infections, pneumonia, epidemiology, etiology, microbiology, mortality and Morocco. The documents were included for analysis when they reported original data on the incidence, distribution, or a clinical description of the diseases or their etiology or described clinical management or national preventive strategies. RESULTS: Thirty-two documents were included in the final analysis. 21 of which had been published. In 2012, ARI caused 13% of paediatric deaths, half of the consultations at health facilities and third of the paediatric admissions. The microorganisms more frequently identified among hospitalized children were Streptococcus pneumoniae (38%) and Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) (15%). The MOH introduced Hib vaccines into the national immunization program (PNI) in 2007and the 13-valent vaccine against pneumococcus in 2010. The national first line antibiotics recommended for non-severe ambulatory treatment is Amoxicillin. Studies of antibiotic resistance showed from 1998 to 2008 a 22% increase in the rate of penicillin non-susceptibility among Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates. Viral respiratory infections and the role attributed to air pollution in the incidence of ARI have been poorly characterized. CONCLUSIONS: Further efforts should be made towards the development of adequate surveillance programs to better clarify the epidemiology, etiology, antimicrobial susceptibility patterns and the effectiveness of the preventives and curatives strategies in place against paediatric ARIs in Morocco. Additionally, a holistical approach should be used to identify the heath determinants of ARIs among children

Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage among healthy and sick pediatric patients before the generalized implementation of the 13-valent pneumococcal vaccine in Morocco from 2010 to 2011

Nasopharyngeal carriage studies provide insights into the local prevalence of circulating pneumococcal serotypes. These data are critical to vaccination monitoring, as they allow for the prediction and assessment of impact. Very little data are available on the carriage of pneumococcal serotypes in Morocco. Here, we describe the prevalence of Streptococcus pneumoniae carriage and serotype distribution among 697 pediatric patients with ages ranging from 2 to 59 months who were admitted to a Moroccan hospital with severe pneumonia, as well as 195 healthy infants and young children who were recruited at a vaccination clinic. Carriage rates were 40.5% (79/195) for healthy children and 22.8% (159/697) for sick children. The most commonly observed circulating serotypes included 6A, 6B and 19F, all of which are included in the current 13-valent anti-pneumococcal conjugate vaccine that was recently introduced in Morocco. Monitoring of circulating serotypes remains necessary after vaccine introduction to assess whether serotype replacement is occurring