Pediatric ischemic stroke – an unlikely diagnosis: a report of three cases

Pediatric ischemic stroke is a rare and devastating disease. A patient presenting with acute neurological deficit should raise suspicion of a possible stroke. However, stroke “mimics” account for a majority of suspected stroke cases in childhood. We present three cases of pediatric acute ischemic stroke, two of which are arterial, and one caused by thrombosis of venous sinuses. In the first case, we present a 16-year old male patient was admitted to our hospital due to a rare Artery of Percheron occlusion. The second case represents a 17-year old female patient with thrombosis of multiple cerebral venous sinuses, venous infarctions and secondary hemorrhages. As the third case, we present 6-year old male patient with a herpes simplex infection and a vertebrobasilar stroke. All three patients had experienced an altered mental status and other nonspecific symptoms. Due to its rarity, diverse clinical presentation, and lack of randomized control trials regarding treatment, ischemic stroke poses a great challenge to pediatricians

Airway colonization with pathogenic microorganisms in mechanically ventilated children treated in a pediatric intensive care unit

Aim and objectives of the study. The aim of this study was to evaluate lower airway colonization with pathogenic microorganisms in mechanically ventilated patients treated in the pediatric intensive care unit. Objectives of the study. 1. To analyze and evaluate colonization rates with pathogenic microorganisms in the oropharynx, lumen of the proximal tip of an endotracheal tube, and lower airways at different time periods. 2. To analyze and evaluate colonization rates by different pathogens in the oropharynx, lumen of the proximal tip of an endotracheal tube, and lower airways and colonization rates at different time periods. 3. To carry out the analysis of pathogens colonizing the lower airways and other sites (oropharynx and (or) lumen of the proximal tip of an endotracheal tube). 4. To assess the mean survival time by different pathogen groups colonizing the lower airways. 5. To evaluate factors causing lower airway colonization with pathogenic microorganisms

Microbial colonization of the lower airways after insertion of a cuffed endotracheal tube in pediatric patient

Background. Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) still remains a common device-associated hospital acquired infection in pediatric and adult intensive care units. The aim of our study was to determine ways of microbial transmission to the lower airways in intubated patients admitted to a single tertiary-care pediatric intensive care unit. Methods. This was a prospective observational study. A total of 284 sample sets (oropharyngeal swabs, swabs from the lumen of the proximal tip of an endotracheal tube, and bronchoalveolar lavage samples) were collected from 62 consecutive pediatric patients intubated for > 24 hours. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis was performed on all isolated pathogens, which were later identified by MALDI biotyper (MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry). Results. Overall colonization rates were high and did not differ significantly at different time points in the oropharynx (75%–100%) and the lower airways (50%–76.5%). The endotracheal tube was colonized at lower rates: on day 1–3 (28.8%), on day 4–6 (52.7%), on day 7–9 (61.8%) and on day 10-12 (52.9%) (P < 0.001). A total of 191 matched sample sets from the lower airways and at least one site above were collected from 46 (74.2%) patients. In the oropharynx-lower airways group, Candida spp. (76.9%) and upper airway bacteria (63.2%); in the endotracheal tube-lower airway group, S. aureus (15.7%) and upper airway bacteria (21.1%); in the oropharynx-endotracheal tube-lower airway group, Enterobacteriaceae (70.8%) prevailed (P < 0.001). The mean survival (entrance) time to lower airways for the Acinetobacter/Pseudomonas/Stenotrophomonas group was 8.28 ± 0.81 days; for the Enterobacteriaceae group, 5.63 ± 0.41; and for Candida spp. group, 3.00 ± 0.82 days (P < 0.005). Conclusions. Oropharyngeal contamination of the lower airways is the most important route of colonization. Different pathogens enter the lower airways at different time intervals from the insertion of an endotracheal tube

International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortiu (INICC) report, data summary of 43 countries for 2007-2012. Device-associated module

We report the results of an International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) surveillance study from January 2007-December 2012 in 503 intensive care units (ICUs) in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. During the 6-year study using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) U.S. National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definitions for device-associated health care–associated infection (DA-HAI), we collected prospective data from 605,310 patients hospitalized in the INICC's ICUs for an aggregate of 3,338,396 days. Although device utilization in the INICC's ICUs was similar to that reported from ICUs in the U.S. in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals: the pooled rate of central line–associated bloodstream infection in the INICC's ICUs, 4.9 per 1,000 central line days, is nearly 5-fold higher than the 0.9 per 1,000 central line days reported from comparable U.S. ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia was also higher (16.8 vs 1.1 per 1,000 ventilator days) as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (5.5 vs 1.3 per 1,000 catheter days). Frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas isolates to amikacin (42.8% vs 10%) and imipenem (42.4% vs 26.1%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (71.2% vs 28.8%) and imipenem (19.6% vs 12.8%) were also higher in the INICC's ICUs compared with the ICUs of the CDC's NHSN