Critical Care News

Caregivers of premature infants infected with respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, experience high levels of stress. Research published in Clinical Pediatrics showed that this stress still affected many caregivers 1 month after their child was discharged.

DALLAS — Critically ill patients undergoing mechanical ventilation in the ICU who received early sedation with dexmedetomidine as the primary or sole agent had a similar rate of mortality at 90 days compared with patients who received usual care, and were likely to require supplemental sedatives, researchers reported at the American Thoracic Society International Conference.

DALLAS — A strategy of early neuromuscular blockade with concomitant heavy sedation, compared with usual care, did not result in a significant mortality difference at 90 days in patients with moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome.

The nonprofit organization Sepsis Alliance has launched Pediatric Sepsis Week, which runs April 21 to 27, to promote public awareness of the symptoms of sepsis and to educate health care providers so they can better identify and treat children with the potentially deadly condition.

The United States witnessed an uptick in the number of children experiencing weakness and paralysis of unknown origin in 2014. The CDC began investigating cases of the condition, known as acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, and since then, surveillance data have shown a spike in cases occurring every 2 years.

About 13% of infants survive to discharge when they are born weighing less than 400 g — or slightly less than 1 pound — and those who do survive face an increased risk for neurodevelopmental impairment. However, researchers said active treatment considerably improves the infants’ chances of survival.

Research published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society describes the course of disease and treatment of an 11-year old boy with infective endocarditis caused by Aerococcus urinae — bacteria typically found among the elderly with urinary tract infections. The boy also experienced mycotic aneurysms, making his case unique.

Most conferences between clinicians and family members about prognosis and goals of care for patients in the ICU lack crucial communication about values and preferences, according to research published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

A recent MMWR highlighted the care needed for a young, unvaccinated boy infected with tetanus. His inpatient care spanned 57 days, 47 of which were spent in an ICU, and it cost more than $800,000.

Prior antibiotic exposure and protein pump inhibitor use were both risk factors for the development of Clostridioides difficile infection, or CDI, in pediatric inpatients, according to results of a meta-analysis published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.