Children with Kawasaki disease or Kawasaki-like syndrome (MIS-C/PIMS) at the time of COVID-19: are they all the same? Case series and literature review.

Since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak started, children have been considered marginally involved compared to adults, with a quite significant percentage of asymptomatic carriers. Very recently, an overwhelming inflammatory activation, which shares clinical similarities with Kawasaki disease (KD), has been described in children exposed to COVID-19. We report three KD-like cases that occurred during the pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in a highly affected area of Northern Italy. The clinical presentation was characterized by the presence of unremitting fever, diarrhea and elevated inflammatory markers. Case #1 and Case #2 occurred one week apart and shared other clinical features: laboratory tests confirmed COVID-19 exposure and high inflammatory activation with myocardial involvement. Case #3 followed a more typical pattern for KD. Interestingly, this patient showed lower levels of procalcitonin, C-reactive protein, D-dimers, and ferritin compared to the other two cases, whereas platelet count was higher. We hypothesize that SARS-CoV-2 might act in children as a trigger, either inducing a classical KD phenotype or causing a systemic inflammatory response leading to a severe KD-like phenotype, eventually characterized by myocardial impairment. We think that bringing these cases and their differences to the attention of the rheumatology community during the COVID-19 pandemic will be beneficial in order to highlight the importance of early diagnosis and to increase awareness of this new phenomenon

Nosocomial acquisition of methicillin-resistant Staphyloccocus aureus (MRSA) and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) Enterobacteriaceae in hospitalised patients: a prospective multicenter study

The risk of acquisition of antibiotic resistant-bacteria during or shortly after antibiotic therapy is still unclear and it is often confounded by scarce data on antibiotic usage.Primary objective of the study is to compare rates of acquisition of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and extended spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in hospitalised patients, after starting antibiotic therapy

Infection control and prevention measures to reduce the spread of vancomycin-resistant enterococci in hospitalized patients, a systematic review and meta-analysis

Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) represent a major problem in healthcare settings worldwide. It is still unclear which is the most effective infection control and prevention (ICP) measure to reduce the spread of hospital-acquired VRE