The evolving relationship between COVID-19 and serious bacterial infection evaluation in febrile neonates.

AIM: The COVID-19 omicron variant surge highlighted the evolving impact of COVID-19. Febrile infants <60 days old are high risk for serious bacterial infections (SBI). This study evaluated the rate of SBI based on COVID-19 infection. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective chart review at an urban, academic paediatric emergency department. The study enrolled infants 60 days old or less with documented fever. The primary outcome was SBI diagnosed by blood, urine, and/or cerebrospinal fluid cultures. We compared the rate of SBI between COVID-19 groups with an omicron variant and 29- to 60-day-old subgroup analyses. RESULTS: Two hundred and thirty-three (233) infants meet the criteria. The incidence of SBI was 18.7% in the COVID-19 negative and 1.7% in the COVID-19-positive group which is statistically significant (p < 0.001). Omicron subgroup analysis did not achieve statistical significance (p = 0.62) while COVID-19-positive infants 29-60 days old had a statistically significant lower rate of SBI (p = 0.006). CONCLUSION: The omicron variant surge provided an additional understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on these high-risk infants. These results can lead to decreased invasive testing and exposure to antibiotics as well as examine the utility of viral testing for risk stratification.

Using the Implementation Research Logic Model to design and implement community-based management of possible serious bacterial infection during COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Community-based treatment of possible serious bacterial infection (PSBI) in young infants, when referral to a hospital is not possible, can result in high treatment coverage and low case fatality. However, in Ethiopia, the coverage of PSBI treatment remains low, worsened by COVID-19. To understand the challenges of delivery of PSBI treatment and design and test adaptative strategies to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on neonatal mortality, we did implementation research (IR) employing Implementation Research Logic Model (IRLM). In this paper, we describe IRLM application experiences in designing, implementing, and evaluating strategies to improve community-based treatment of PSBI during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia. METHODS: This IR was conducted between November 2020-April 2022 at Dembecha and Lume woredas of Amhara and Oromia regions, respectively. We employed narrative reviews, formative assessment and facilitated stakeholder engagement to develop the PSBI treatment IRLM to identify barriers, understand the conceptual linkages among determinants, choose implementation strategies, elicit mechanisms, and link to implementation outcomes. In addition, we used the IRLM to structure the capture of emerging implementation challenges and resulting strategy adaptations throughout implementation. RESULTS: This IR identified COVID-19 and multiple pre-existing contextual factors. We designed and implemented implementation strategies to address these challenges. These adaptive strategies were implemented with sufficient strength to maintain the delivery of PSBI services and improve mothers' care-seeking behavior for their sick young infants. The IRLM offers us a clear process and path to prioritize implementation challenges, choose strategies informed by mechanisms of action, and where the adaptive implementation of community-based management of PSBI would lead to high-implementation fidelity and change in mother behavior to seek care for their sick young infants. The IRLM was also an effective tool for stakeholder engagement, easily explained and used to structure discussion and decision-making during co-design meetings. CONCLUSIONS: The use of the IRLM helps us to specify the conceptual links between the implementation challenges, strategies, mechanisms of action, and outcomes to explore the complex community-based management of PSBI during complex contexts to improve high-fidelity implementation and integration of PSBI treatment in the primary healthcare delivery systems through active engagement of stakeholders.

Potential and promising marker for serious bacterial infections in children: Delta neutrophil index.

AIM: This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness and accuracy of the delta neutrophil index (DNI), an index expressing the number of immature granulocytes as a proportion of the total, as an inflammatory marker in predicting serious bacterial infections (SBIs). METHODS: Paediatric patients admitted to our hospital with fever were divided into four groups: SBI, non-SBI, COVID-19 and control group. White blood cell count, absolute neutrophil count, C-reactive protein and the DNI were recorded, and their accuracy in predicting SBI was evaluated. RESULTS: Mean DNI was 4.96 ± 8.38 in the SBI group (150 patients), 0.67 ± 1.68 in the non-SBI group (397 patients), 0.29 ± 0.99 in the COVID-19 group (112 patients) and 0.14 ± 0.21 in the control group (102 patients). The DNI was significantly higher in the SBI group compared with the non-SBI (P < 0.001); the non-SBI group also had higher levels than the COVID-19 group (P = 0.005). One percent increase in the DNI increased the SBI rate 1.36 times (odds ratio 1.36 (95% confidence interval 1.23-1.49), P < 0.001). Based on the determined cut-off value (>2.5%), the DNI (odds ratio 6.27 (95% confidence interval 3.85-10.21), P < 0.001) significantly predicted SBIs with 90.4% specificity and 47.7% sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: SBIs in childrenare associated with an increase in DNI levels. Compared to other biomarkers, the DNI had higher specificity in predicting SBIs. The DNI may also be usefulin differentiating bacterial and non-bacterial infections in individualclinical syndromes. Currently, there is no evidence that serum DNI aids indifferentiating COVID-19 and upper respiratory tract infection.

Benign course and clinical features of COVID-19 in hospitalised febrile infants up to 60 days old.

AIM: Minimal data exist regarding the severity of COVID-19 in febrile infants under 60 days old. This multicentre prospective study explored the clinical course and outcomes of this hospitalised patient population, as, to date, the best approach has not been specifically addressed. METHODS: This study focused on the clinical features, laboratory parameters and outcomes of febrile infants up to 60 days old who tested positive for the virus and were hospitalised in Israel from March 2020 to January 2021. The data were extracted from a real-time prospective surveillance network for COVID-19 that includes 20 of the country's 26 hospitals. RESULTS: We identified 75 febrile young infants (60% female) with COVID-19 at a median age of 28 days (range 8-56 days). Of these, 84% had an unremarkable medical history, 29% had respiratory symptoms, and 96% had a mild illness. The Rochester criteria showed that 44% were considered at high-risk for serious bacterial infections, and we found that eight infants actually had concomitant bacterial infections. Outcomes were excellent, and no complications or fatalities were reported. CONCLUSION: The excellent outcomes of young febrile infants with COVID-19 closely resembled other respiratory viral aetiologies of fever in this age group, and there were no fatalities.

Comparison of Clinical and Epidemiologic Characteristics of Young Febrile Infants with and without Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 Infection.

OBJECTIVE: To determine features that distinguish febrile young infants with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective single-center study included febrile infants <57 days of age evaluated in the emergency department of Cohen Children's Medical Center of Northwell Health, New Hyde Park, New York, from March 1 to April 30 of 2018, 2019, and 2020. Sociodemographic and clinical features were compared between those seen during the 2020 coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic and previous years, as well as between infants with SARS-CoV-2 infection and infants without SARS-CoV-2 infection (SARS-CoV-2 negative or evaluated during 2018 and 2019). RESULTS: In all, 124 febrile infants <57 days of age were identified; 38 during the 2-month study period in 2018, 33 in 2019, and 53 in 2020. During 2020, fewer febrile infants had a serious bacterial infection or a positive respiratory viral panel than in prior years (6% vs 21% [P = .02]; 15% vs 53% [P < .001], respectively). SARS-CoV-2 was the most frequent pathogen detected in 2020; of 30 infants tested, 20 tested positive. Infants with SARS-CoV-2 were more likely to identify as Hispanic (P = .004), have public insurance or be uninsured (P = .01), exhibited lethargy (P = .02), had feeding difficulties (P = .002), and had lower white blood cell (P = .001), neutrophil (P < .001), and lymphocyte counts (P = .005) than the 81 infants without SARS-CoV-2 infection. None of the infants with SARS-CoV-2 had concurrent serious bacterial infection or detection of another virus. Overall, disease in infants with SARS-CoV-2 was mild. CONCLUSIONS: During the peak of the pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 was the predominant pathogen among febrile infants. Socioeconomic, historical, and laboratory features differed significantly between infants infected or not infected with SARS-CoV-2. None of the 20 infants with SARS-CoV-2 infection had an identified coviral or serious bacterial infection.