Acute pancreatitis in children and rotavirus infection. Description of a case and minireview

In this article, we describe a case of acute pancreatitis occurred on a 2-year-old boy following rotavirus gastroenteritis. Its characteristics are analyzed and contextualized among those of other 4 cases of pancreatitis associated with rotavirus infection found through a systematic review of the international literature. None of the five children underwent surgery or was referred to an intensive care unit and all the 5 children cured with normalization of pancreatic enzyme within 5-10 days. The pathogenesis of this rare complication remains to be cleared, and its actual incidence may be higher than that reported. Although acute pancreatitis associated with rotavirus gastroenteritis seems t…

Aspergillosi polmonare in soggetto con lupus eritematoso sistemico e sindrome da attivazione macrofagica

Le infezioni rappresentano una delle principali cause di morbilità e mortalità nei pazienti affetti da lupus eritematoso sistemico (LES). I fattori che determinano l’aumentata suscettibilità alle infezioni dipendono sia dalla patologia sia dai farmaci assunti. MR, 16 aa, affetta da LES, esordito 2 anni prima, in trattamento con idrossiclorochina, si ricovera per febbre elevata poco responsiva ad antipiretici. Due settimane prima riferiva comparsa di pseudotinea amantiacea al cuoio capelluto e otite da Pseudomonas aeruginosa per cui era in terapia con ciprofloxacina. Dopo 24 ore di ricovero, la ragazza sviluppa una sindrome da attivazione macrofagica (MAS) associata ad insufficienza renale a…

TRE CASI DI MIOCARDITE ACUTA DA PARVOVIRUS B19

L’infezione da Parvovirus B19, responsabile del “megaloeritema infettivo”, può determinare conseguenze cliniche gravi, tra le quali: la miocardite acuta, la crisi aplastica del midollo osseo e l’artrite. Esponiamo tre casi clinici di miocardite acuta secondaria a infezione da Parvovirus B19 che hanno avuto decorso sfavorevole: S, femmina di 18 mesi, M, femmina di 3 anni, A, maschio di 2 anni. Le bambine riferivano anamnesi negativa, invece A era affetto da metilmalonico aciduria. S giungeva in PS dopo tre giorni di febbre: soporosa, pallida, dispnoica e tachicardica con soffio sistolico, crepitii alle basi polmonari ed epatomegalia. M riferiva astenia e iporessia da un mese e, all’ingresso …

Sorveglianza molecolare delle gastroenteriti da rotavirus in Sicilia

Introduction and prolonged circulation of G12 rotaviruses in Sicily

SUMMARYGenotype G12 strains are now considered to be the sixth most prevalent human rotaviruses worldwide. In two Sicilian cities, Palermo and Messina, surveillance of rotavirus circulation performed since 1985 and 2009, respectively, did not detect G12 strains until 2012. From 2012 to 2014 rotavirus infection was detected in 29·7% of 1647 stool samples collected from children admitted for acute gastroenteritis to three Sicilian hospitals in Palermo, Messina and Ragusa. In 2012, G12P[8] was first detected in Palermo and then in Messina where it represented the second most frequent genotype (20% prevalence) after G1P[8]. Thereafter, G12 strains continued to circulate in Sicily, showing a mar…

Norovirus GII.17 as Major Epidemic Strain in Italy, Winter 2015–16

In winter 2015-16, norovirus GII.17 Kawasaki 2014 emerged as a cause of sporadic gastroenteritis in children in Italy. Median patient age was higher for those with GII.17 than GII.4 infection (55 vs. 24 months), suggesting limited cross-protection for older children.

CLINICAL AND LABORATORY FINDINGS OF BOUTONNEUSE FEVER IN SICILIAN CHILDREN

The spectrum of signs and symptoms of 645 consecutive children diagnosed from 1984 to 1996 with boutonneuse fever (BF), a mild rickettsial disease caused by Rickettsia conorii endemic in the Mediterranean basin, are reported. The major clinical features were fever (97.2%), exanthema (96.1%) and “tache noire” (71.8%). The large series examined permitted the authors to observe some rare or disregarded clinical features of the disease: cases with papulovesicular exanthema, reported previously only in adults who had been infected by R. conorii in Africa; and cases in which the only symptom was an isolated lymphadenopathy. Conclusion R. conorii infection should be considered in patients with lym…

Louseborne relapsing fever in young migrants, sicily, Italy, july-september 2015

To the Editor: During the early 20th century, at the end of World War I, and during World War II, louseborne relapsing fever (LBRF) caused by Borrelia recurrentis was a major public health problem, especially in eastern Europe and northern Africa (1,2). Currently, poor living conditions, famine, war, and refugee camps are major risk factors for epidemics of LBRF in resource-poor countries, such as those in the Horn of Africa (3,4). Increased migration from resource-poor countries and war/violence create new routes for spread of vectorborne diseases. Recently, several cases of LBRF have been reported among asylum seekers from Eritrea in the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Germany (5–8). All of…