Plasma lipid profiles discriminate bacterial from viral infection in febrile children

Fever is the most common reason that children present to Emergency Departments. Clinical signs and symptoms suggestive of bacterial infection are often non-specific, and there is no definitive test for the accurate diagnosis of infection. The 'omics' approaches to identifying biomarkers from the host-response to bacterial infection are promising. In this study, lipidomic analysis was carried out with plasma samples obtained from febrile children with confirmed bacterial infection (n = 20) and confirmed viral infection (n = 20). We show for the first time that bacterial and viral infection produces distinct profile in the host lipidome. Some species of glycerophosphoinositol, sphingomyelin, lysophosphatidylcholine and cholesterol sulfate were higher in the confirmed virus infected group, while some species of fatty acids, glycerophosphocholine, glycerophosphoserine, lactosylceramide and bilirubin were lower in the confirmed virus infected group when compared with confirmed bacterial infected group. A combination of three lipids achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.911 (95% CI 0.81 to 0.98). This pilot study demonstrates the potential of metabolic biomarkers to assist clinicians in distinguishing bacterial from viral infection in febrile children, to facilitate effective clinical management and to the limit inappropriate use of antibiotics

Identification of regulatory variants associated with genetic susceptibility to meningococcal disease.

Non-coding genetic variants play an important role in driving susceptibility to complex diseases but their characterization remains challenging. Here, we employed a novel approach to interrogate the genetic risk of such polymorphisms in a more systematic way by targeting specific regulatory regions relevant for the phenotype studied. We applied this method to meningococcal disease susceptibility, using the DNA binding pattern of RELA - a NF-kB subunit, master regulator of the response to infection - under bacterial stimuli in nasopharyngeal epithelial cells. We designed a custom panel to cover these RELA binding sites and used it for targeted sequencing in cases and controls. Variant calling and association analysis were performed followed by validation of candidate polymorphisms by genotyping in three independent cohorts. We identified two new polymorphisms, rs4823231 and rs11913168, showing signs of association with meningococcal disease susceptibility. In addition, using our genomic data as well as publicly available resources, we found evidences for these SNPs to have potential regulatory effects on ATXN10 and LIF genes respectively. The variants and related candidate genes are relevant for infectious diseases and may have important contribution for meningococcal disease pathology. Finally, we described a novel genetic association approach that could be applied to other phenotypes

Plasma lipid profiles discriminate bacterial from viral infection in febrile children

Fever is the most common reason that children present to Emergency Departments. Clinical signs and symptoms suggestive of bacterial infection ar

La prueba course-navette no es válida para detectar asma en programas de educación física escolar

Objetivo: Determinadas actividades deportivas pueden desencadenar en el niño agudizaciones de asma de intensidad variable, limitaciones y rechazo de las actividades deportivas. Durante el horario escolar los profesores son observadores privilegiados de estos fenómenos. El objetivo del presente estudio ha sido evaluar la prueba course-navette ("carrera de ida y vuelta", PCN), prueba de rendimiento físico de los programas de educación física escolar, como medida para detectar asma. Pacientes y métodos: Se ha realizado un estudio observacional y transversal en escolares de 6 a 12 años de edad, mediante cuestionario de síntomas relacionados con el asma (ISAAC) y pruebas de rendimiento físico (PCN) y de carrera libre con esfuerzo máximo para estudiar la hiperrespuesta bronquial, utilizando en ambas como medida principal el flujo espiratorio máximo (FEM) determinado con medidor del ápice de flujo espiratorio. En la comparación de los resultados de la PCN con los del test de carrera libre y el cuestionario ISAAC se midió el grado de asociación (con la prueba de la ?²) y de acuerdo (estadístico kappa de Cohen). Resultados: Se distribuyó el cuestionario ISAAC (n = 919) a 460 niños (50,1%) y 459 niñas (49,9%) de 6 a 12 años de edad (mediana ± desviación estándar: 8 ± 1,87 años). Completaron todas las pruebas 826. Se observó una asociación con bajo acuerdo entre la PCN positiva y el test de carrera libre positivo para descensos del FEM, en relación con el basal, del 15% ?² = 5,6; p < 0,05; kappa = 0,093; error estándar [EE] = 0,042) y del 20% (?² = 4,5; p < 0,05; kappa = 0,08; EE = 0,046). Para descensos del FEM del 10% la asociación no fue significativa y el acuerdo resultó débil (kappa = 0,05; EE = 0,04). No hubo acuerdo entre ISAAC y la PCN (kappa = 0,095; EE = 0,63). Conclusiones: La PCN con el FEM como medida principal del efecto no es válida para detectar asma en escolares

Epidemiological and clinical insights into the enterovirus D68 upsurge in Europe 2021/22 and the emergence of novel B3-derived lineages, ENPEN multicentre study

International audienceEnterovirus D68 (EV-D68) infections are associated with severe respiratory disease and acute flaccid myelitis (AFM). The European Non-Polio Enterovirus Network (ENPEN) aimed to investigate the epidemiological and genetic characteristics of EV-D68 and its clinical impact during the fall-winter season of 2021/22. From 19 European countries, 58 institutes reported 10,481 (6.8%) EV-positive samples of which 1,004 (9.6%) were identified as EV-D68 (852 respiratory samples). Clinical data was reported for 969 cases. 78.9% of infections were reported in children (0-5 years); 37.9% of cases were hospitalised. Acute respiratory distress was commonly noted (93.1%) followed by fever (49.4%). Neurological problems were observed in 6.4% of cases with six reported with AFM. Phylodynamic/Nextstrain and phylogenetic analyses based on 694 sequences showed the emergence of two novel B3-derived lineages, with no regional clustering. In conclusion, we describe a large-scale EV-D68 European upsurge with severe clinical impact and the emergence of B3-derived lineages

Children living with HIV in Europe: do migrants have worse treatment outcomes?

International audienceTo assess the effect of migrant status on treatment outcomes among children living with HIV in Europe