Objective:To investigate the distribution of pathogen species isolated from cerebrospinal fluid culture (CSF) in children and analyze the antibiotic-resistance of the main isolates in vitro, which provides reference for interpreting the pathogens and choosing antibiotics in empiric therapy for pediatric patients. Methods:The results of cerebrospinal fluid culture were collected by checking laboratory information system of the Children′s Hospital of Zhejiang University and the clinical characteristics of these children were analyzed retrospectively by checking electronic medical record system.Results:A total of 1 312 isolates were detected, including 1 294 isolates of bacteria and 18 isolates of fungi. A total of 497 (37.9%) isolates were pathogenic microorganisms, of which 288 (57.9%) isolates were gram-positive, 200 (40.3%) isolates were gram-negative, and 9 (1.8%) isolates were fungi. The top 5 pathogens were Escherichia coli (102 isolates, 20.5%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (64 isolates, 12.9%), Streptococcus agalactiae (52 isolates, 10.5%), Enterococcus faecium (33 isolates, 6.6%) and Staphylococcus aureus (28 isolates, 5.6%). Most of the Streptococcus pneumoniae strains were isolated from children more than 1 year old (76.6%, 49/64), while the other top 4 bacteria were mainly isolated from infants less than 1 year old, with the rate of 95.1%(97/102) for Escherichia coli, 98.1%(51/52) for Streptococcus agalactiae, 81.8%(27/33) for Enterococcus faecium and 71.4% (20/28) for Staphylococcus aureus. A total of 815 (62.1%) isolates were considered to be contaminated pathogens according to the analysis on clinical manifestations and other laboratory findings in CSF, and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (680 isolates), Micrococcus (50 isolates), Corynebacterium (28 isolates) and Enterococcus faecium (23 isolates), which accounted for 41.1% (23/56) of the total detected Enterococcus faecium, were the top 4 contaminated bacteria. During the study period, the isolation rate of the pathogenic microorganisms increased year by year (χ2=34.84, P<0.001), while the isolation rate of the contaminated pathogens, which detected mainly in summer and autumn, decreased year by year (χ2=13.26, P<0.001). Conclusions:The predominant bacteria causing pediatric purulent meningitis were Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus agalactiae, Enterococcus faecium and Staphylococcus aureus. Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus, Micrococcus, Corynebacterium and Enterococcus faecium were common contaminated bacteria in CSF culture, therefore clinicians should interpret the results of CSF culture cautiously according to the bacterial species and clinical manifestations.

Objective:To study the drug resistance patterns of Bordetella pertussis in vitro, and to know the clinical characteristics of pediatric pertussis and evaluation the treatment outcomes, which may provide references for experiential diagnosis and treatment of this disease. Methods:Nasopharyngeal swabs of the hospitalized children with suspected pertussis in Children′s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine in 2017 were collected for culture. And the clinical data of the children were collected. The strains were identified by pertussis-specific antiserum agglutination and finally confirmed by mass spectrometry. The drug sensitivity test was performed using the E-test method. The efficacy of therapy with antibiotic was evaluated after two weeks of treatment. Statistical analysis was performed with Mann-Whitney U test and chi-square test. Results:Of 1 029 children, 211 (20.5%) nasopharyngeal swabs were positive for Bordetella pertussis culture, and the isolation rate of the specimens was highest (31.2%, 45/144) in July. Of the 211 pertussis patients, 105 (49.8%) were male and the age were 3.8 (2.2, 6.9) months, 114 (54.0%) were not vaccinated with pertussis diphtheria tetanus mixed vaccine and 192 (91.0%) were prescribed with previous antibiotics. There were 142 (67.3%) children from families with two or more than two children, and 136 (95.8%) of which were the youngest siblings. One hundred and fifty-nine (75.4%) patients had paroxysmal cough and 61 (28.9%) had whooping. The white blood cell counts were higher than 20×10 9/L in 94 (44.5%) patients, and the lymphocyte counts were higher than 10×10 9/L in 97 (46.0%) of patients. The drug susceptibility results showed that 138 (65.4%) strains were against erythromycin, azithromycin and clindamycin with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC)>256.000 mg/L. The MIC 90 of the isolates to ampicillin, ceftriaxone, cefoperazone/sulbactam, meropenem and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole were 0.190 mg/L, 0.190 mg/L, 0.094 mg/L, 0.094 mg/L and 0.750 mg/L, respectively. All strains had a MIC of <0.016 mg/L for piperacillin/tazobactam. After treatment, symptoms were improved in 195(92.4%) patients when they were discharged from hospital. Seventy-six (57.1%) children whose symptoms did not improve after seven-day treatment with macrolides, were prescribed with other antibiotics or other antibiotic with macrolides in combination. Compared with the patients treated with macrolides, more patients treated with cefoperazone/sulbactam or piperacillin/tazobactam had negative nasopharyngeal culture results after two weeks of therapy (46/48(95.8%) vs 46/57(80.7%)), or on day seven (45/46(97.8%) vs 39/47(83.0%)) and on day 14 (45/45(100.0%) vs 41/47(87.2%)) since discharged. The differences were all statistically significant ( χ2=5.50, 5.86 and 6.15, respectively, P=0.019, 0.015 and 0.013, respectively). Conclusions:The majority of children with pertussis do not have whooping, and the resistant rate of Bordetella pertussis to macrolides is high. Further study is needed to evaluate the feasibility and reasonability of cefoperazone/sulbactam and piperacillin/tazobactam in treating pediatric pertussis caused by macrolides-resistant Bordetella pertussis.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused a global pandemic. All people including children are generally susceptible to COVID-19, but the condition is relatively mild for children. The diagnosis of COVID-19 is largely based on the epidemiological evidence and clinical manifestations, and confirmed by positive detection of virus nucleic acid in respiratory samples. The main symptoms of COVID-19 in children are fever and cough; the total number of white blood cell count is usually normal or decreased; the chest imaging is characterized by interstitial pneumonia, which is similar to other respiratory virus infections and infections. Early identification, early isolation, early diagnosis and early treatment are important for clinical management. The treatment of mild or moderate type of child COVID-19 is mainly symptomatic. For severe and critical ill cases, the oxygen therapy, antiviral drugs, antibacterial drugs, glucocorticoids, mechanical ventilation or even extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) may be adopted, and the treatment plan should be adjusted timely through multi-disciplinary cooperation.
Betacoronavirus ; isolation & purification ; Child ; Coronavirus Infections ; diagnosis ; pathology ; therapy ; Humans ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; etiology ; pathology ; therapy

Betacoronavirus ; isolation & purification ; Child ; Clinical Laboratory Techniques ; Coronavirus Infections ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; therapy ; Humans ; Pneumonia, Viral ; diagnosis ; therapy

Objective To investigate the distribution and drug resistance of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae ( CRE) isolated from children in China. Methods CRE strains were collected in 10 ter-tiary children's hospitals of China from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2017. Antimicrobial susceptibility of the clinical strains was detected with disk diffusion method ( KB method) and automated method. The re-sults were analyzed according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute ( CLSI) Standards published in 2017. WHONET 5. 6 software was used to retrospectively analyze the distribution characteristics and drug resistance of these strains. Results A total of 3065 CRE clinical strains were isolated from children with an overall prevalence of 7. 7％ and among them, 13. 5％ were isolated in neonatal group and 5. 8％ in non-neo-natal group. The detection rate of CRE in 2017 was higher than that in 2016 (9. 7％ vs 5. 7％). Among the 3065 CRE strains, there were 1912 strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae (62. 0％), 667 strains of Escherichia coli (22. 0％), 206 strains of Enterobacter cloacae (7. 0％), 56 strains of Klebsiella aerogenes (1. 8％) and 47 strains of Serratia marcescens (1. 5％). Most of the strains were isolate in neonatology departments including neonatal intensive care units (NICU) and intensive care units (ICU), accounting for 44. 8％ and 19. 7％, respectively. Respiratory tract (61. 8％), urine (19. 4％) and blood (5. 7％) specimens were the main sources of CRE isolates. Results of antimicrobial susceptibility test showed that the CRE strains were highly resistant to carbapenem antibiotics such as imipenem, meropenem and ertapenem, as well as penicillins and most cephalosporins (79. 6％-100％), especially those isolated in the neonatal group (P<0. 05). Children had relatively low resistance rates to aminoglycosides such as amikacin (19. 7％) and fos-fomycin (11. 9％), fluoroquinolones such as levofloxacin (37. 7％) and ciprofloxacin (43. 3％), and tige-cycline (3. 8％). Currently, no polymyxin B-resistant strains were isolated. Conclusions The prevalence of common CRE strains in children in 2017 was higher than that in 2016, especially in newborns. Drug re-sistance in CRE strains isolated from neonates to common antibiotics was more severe, suggesting that great attention should be paid to it and timely measures should also be taken.

Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics of invasive Haemophilus influenzae (HI) infection in children. Methods: The clinical manifestations, laboratory examinations and treatment outcomes of 84 children with HI infection confirmed by bacterial culture in 7 tertiary children′s hospitals from 2014 to 2018 were analyzed retrospectively. Results: Among the 84 cases, 50 were males. The age was 1.54 years (ranged from 5 days to 13 years).Twenty cases (24%) had underlying diseases and 48 cases (57%) had not received antibiotics before collecting specimens. Eighty-two cases (98%) had fever and 75 cases (89%) had clear infection foci, among which 31 cases (37%) had meningitis and 27 cases (32%) had pneumonia. Blood culture was positive in 62 cases (74%), cerebrospinal fluid culture was positive in 10 cases (12%), blood culture and cerebrospinal fluid culture were both positive in 11 cases (13%). Antibiotics susceptibility test showed that 27% (22/82) of all HI strains produced β-lactamases and 48% (37/77) strains were resistant to ampicillin. The drug resistance rates to cefuroxime, ampicillin-sulbactam, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and azithromycin were 25% (20/80) , 20% (9/45) , 71% (44/62) and 19%(11/58), respectively. All strains were sensitive to meropenem, levofloxacin and ceftriaxone. After sensitive antibiotic therapy, 83% (70/84) of all patients were cured and improved, the mortality rate and loss of follow-up rate were 13% (11/84) and 4% (3/84) respectively. Conclusions Meningitis and pneumonia are common presentation of invasive HI infections in children. Mortality in HI meningitis children is high and the third generation of cephalosporins, such as ceftriaxone can be used as the first choice for the treatment of invasive HI infection.

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics of invasive Haemophilus influenzae (HI) infection in children. Methods The clinical manifestations, laboratory examinations and treatment outcomes of 84 children with HI infection confirmed by bacterial culture in 7 tertiary children′s hospitals from 2014 to 2018 were analyzed retrospectively. Results Among the 84 cases, 50 were males. The age was 1.54 years (ranged from 5 days to 13 years).Twenty cases (24%) had underlying diseases and 48 cases (57%) had not received antibiotics before collecting specimens. Eighty‐two cases (98%) had fever and 75 cases (89%) had clear infection foci, among which 31 cases (37%) had meningitis and 27 cases (32%) had pneumonia. Blood culture was positive in 62 cases (74%), cerebrospinal fluid culture was positive in 10 cases (12%), blood culture and cerebrospinal fluid culture were both positive in 11 cases (13%). Antibiotics susceptibility test showed that 27% (22/82) of all HI strains produced β‐lactamases and 48% (37/77) strains were resistant to ampicillin. The drug resistance rates to cefuroxime, ampicillin‐sulbactam, trimethoprim‐sulfamethoxazole and azithromycin were 25% (20/80), 20% (9/45), 71%(44/62) and 19% (11/58), respectively. All strains were sensitive to meropenem, levofloxacin and ceftriaxone. After sensitive antibiotic therapy, 83% (70/84) of all patients were cured and improved, the mortality rate and loss of follow‐up rate were 13% (11/84) and 4% (3/84) respectively. Conclusions Meningitis and pneumonia are common presentation of invasive HI infections in children. Mortality in HI meningitis children is high and the third generation of cephalosporins, such as ceftriaxone can be used as the first choice for the treatment of invasive HI infection.

Objective To investigate the incidence of Acinetobacter baumannii induced paediatric bacterial meningitis and to explore the characteristics,treatment,and prognosis of Acinetobacter baumannii menin-gitis. Methods The cerebrospinal fluid specimens and the clinical data about patients who acquired intracranial infection of Acinetobacter baumannii were collected from 10 children′s hospital,and analysed by WHONET. Results A total of 318 positive cerebrospinal fluid specimens from 10 hospitals were collected,and 16(5%) of Acinetobacter baumannii were detected. Acinetobacter baumannii was completely resistant to Aztreonam (100%),Cefotetan(100%) and Cefazolin(100%),and the resistance rates of Acinetobacter baumannii to Ceftriaxone and Ciprofloxacin were above 80%,and the resistance rates of Acinetobacter baumannii to Cefta-zidime and Cefepime were all 68. 8%,and the resistance rates of Acinetobacter baumannii to Meropenem, Imipenem,Cefoperazone/Sulbactam were 69. 2%,68. 8% and 53. 3%,respectively. In 16 cases of intracrani-al infection caused by Acinetobacter baumannii,11 cases(68. 8%) had underlying diseases such as intracrani-al tumor,hydrocephalus,craniocerebral injury and intracranial hemorrhage,and all 11 cases underwent surgi-cal intervention,such as surgical resection and hydrocephalus drainage. Among 16 cases,14 cases(87. 5%) were admitted to SICU,PICU or NICU and other intensive care units,and the lengths of stay were all ＞20 d. Under the combined treatment of multiple antibiotics,16 cases of intracranial infection caused by Acinetobact-er baumannii,6 cases died,with a mortality of 37. 5%. Conclusion Acinetobacter baumannii meningitis is becoming an increasingly common clinical entity recently. Because of the resistance to antibiotics,the therapy for Acinetobacter baumannii infection encounters arduous challenge. Insisting on multi-center monitoring and using antibiotics reasonably and effectively appears to be particularly important.

Objective: To analyze the antimicrobial resistance profile in Chinese children. Methods: This was a prevalence survey. From January 1 through December 31, 2016, the isolates were collected from 10 tertiary children hospitals in China. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was carried out by routine laboratory methods. The penicillin susceptibility of streptococcus pneumonia and Meropenem susceptibility of gram-negative bacteria were detected by E-test and disk diffusion method respectively. Antimicrobial susceptibility results were interpreted according to the criteria of Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) Guideline 2016. The data of antimicrobial susceptibility testing of isolates from either the different patients (neonatal group and non-neonatal group) or various sources were analyzed by WHONET 5.6 software. Results: A total of 56 241 isolates were collected, of which 41.5% (23 328 isolates) were gram-positive organisms and 58.5% (32 886 isolates) gram-negative organisms. The five leading pathogens were Escherichia coli (7 995/56 214, 14.2%), Straphylococcus aureus (6 468/56 214, 11.5%), Streptococcus pneumonia (6 225/56 214, 11.1%), Haemophilus influenza (5 435/56 214, 9.7%) and Klebsiella pneumonia (4 523/56 214, 8.0%). The Meropenem resistance rates of Klebsiella pneumonia, Enterobacter cloacae, Escherichia coil, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumonia isolates were 27.4% (326/1 189) , 8.1% (29/358) , 2.0% (27/1 362) , 19.5% (34/174) , 49.7% (230/463) in neonatal group and 15.4% (512/3 327) , 4.8% (40/841) , 2.3% (151/6 564) , 13.7% (252/1 840) , and 53.4% (860/1 611) in non-neonatal group. The Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) rates of neonatal group and non-neonatal group were 46.2% (649/1 404) and 33.3% (1 668/5 010) . The penicillin non-susceptible rates of Streptococcus pneumonia in the two groups were 17.6% (6/34) and 18.2% (1 121/6 158) respectively. The β-lactamase positive rates of Haemophilus pneumonia isolates in the neonatal group and non-neonatal groups were 33.8% (47/139) and 44.4% (2 345/5 282) respectively. Conclusion This investigation highlights the worrisome trend of antimicrobial resistance in children, especially among neonatal patients in China.

Objective: To improve the understanding of clinical characteristics of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS) caused by Streptococcus pyogenes (S. pyogenes) in children. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the clinical data of STSS caused by S. pyogenes (culture-confirmed) in 7 tertiary hospitals during 2010—2017 in China. Clinical and laboratory data were collected by reviewing the medical records. Results: Fifteen cases of STSS, including 9 males, were confirmed and the ages of the patients ranged from 6 months to 15 years, with median age of 3 years. All cases had the positive blood culture for S. pyogenes and only 3 cases had short course of β-lactam treatment before blood culture. Medical evaluation was initiated within (5.1±4.6) days after symptom onset. All patients had fever, and 13 patients had multiple organ dysfunction and 10 patients had disseminated intravascular coagulationl (DIC). Twelve cases had severe pneumonia with or without skin and (or) soft tissue infections. Underlying conditions included giant hemangioma of the skin in 2 patients and varicella in 1 patient. All isolated strains in 14 cases were sensitive to penicillin G, ceftriaxone/cefotaxime, vancomycin, but 12 and 13 isolates were resistant to clindamycin and erythromycin, respectively. Eight patients died, and 5 of them died within 24 hours after admission. One patient was lost to follow-up after intended discharge against medical advice. Conclusion STSS caused by S. pyogenes in children is a severe syndrome with rapid clinical progression and high mortality rate, and thus the pediatricians should be aware of STSS and immediately initiate aggressive treatment for the suspected cases.