Bacterial Infections News

In 2019, approximately 43% of schools globally did not have access to basic hand washing with soap and water, and 818 million children lacked basic hand-washing facilities at school, according to data from a WHO/UNICEF monitoring program.

UTIs account for 1.1 million pediatric office visits annually and are a significant clinical syndrome in childhood. UTI is typically caused by a bacterial pathogen. The infection involves the lower urinary tract (ie, urethritis, cystitis) or the upper urinary tract (ie, pyelonephritis). Prompt treatment of pyelonephritis is important to prevent renal scarring and associated sequela such as hypertension and end-stage renal disease.

Findings from a years-long phase 3, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of vitamin D supplementation in Mongolian school children showed that it did not lower the risk for tuberculosis.

Invasive Haemophilus influenzae serotype a is increasing in the United States overall, with the greatest burden occurring in American Indian and Alaska Native children, according to findings published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

The results of two studies published today in The New England Journal of Medicine that challenged WHO treatment recommendations for children with nonsevere pneumonia were “insufficient to change current clinical practice,” experts said.

Practicing pediatricians have been using telehealth technology to communicate with patients who are not able to physically visit offices because of social distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Infectious Diseases in Children asked Editorial Board Member Eugene Shapiro, MD, professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at Yale School of Medicine, if patients should pay the same amount for a telehealth visit as they would for an in-person visit.

The most recent MMWR included a report about a novel, emerging strain of beta-lactamase-producing Neisseria meningitidis in the United States that is resistant to both penicillin and ciprofloxacin.

Boston Children’s Hospital, once again, has claimed the top spot in U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings for Best Children’s Hospital.

Globally, reported cases of neonatal tetanus decreased by 90% from 2000 to 2018 and neonatal deaths from the bacterial infection fell 85%, according to a report published recently in MMWR, which summarized progress toward eliminating maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT).

Reported cases of invasive Cronobacter infection rose significantly in recent years, with opened containers of contaminated powdered infant formula most commonly identified as the source of the infections, researchers reported recently in Emerging Infectious Diseases.