Proceedings of the 23rd Paediatric Rheumatology European Society Congress: part one

Multicentre Italian study of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children and adolescents, preliminary data as at 10 April 2020

Data on features of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in children and adolescents are scarce. We report preliminary results of an Italian multicentre study comprising 168 laboratory-confirmed paediatric cases (median: 2.3 years, range: 1 day–17.7 years, 55.9% males), of which 67.9% were hospitalised and 19.6% had comorbidities. Fever was the most common symptom, gastrointestinal manifestations were frequent; two children required intensive care, five had seizures, 49 received experimental treatments and all recovered.

TREATMENT OF VISCERAL LEISHMANIASIS IN CHILDREN USING LIPOSOMAL AMPHOTHERICIN B

We used liposomal amphotericin B as first-choice treatment of visceral leishmaniasis in 106 immunocompetent children who acquired the infection in a temperate region of southern Europe (Italy) where Leishmania infantum visceral leishmaniasis is endemic. The aim of the study was to identify the minimum total dose of liposomal amphotericin B needed to cure the infection in children and reduce the period of hospitalization. We conclude that the optimal regimen in immunocompetent children with L. infantum visceral leishmaniasis to be a total dose of 18 mg/kg of liposomal amphotericin B (3 mg/kg per day for 5 days, followed by 3 mg/kg administered as an outpatient regimen on day 10).