Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine-related complications in children in Oman.

BACKGROUND: Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine-related complications are frequently observed in children in Oman. There are a few regional studies on BCG complications, but none from Oman. OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the spectrum of BCG-vaccine related complications and immune status in Omani children. DESIGN: Retrospective cross-sectional study. SETTING: Referral tertiary hospital. METHODS: Children aged younger than 13 years old and with complications of BCG vaccination recorded from 2006-2018 were included in this study. Clinical characteristics, treatment, immune workup and outcome were reviewed from hospital records. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Different BCG vaccine-related complications categorized by the site of involvement. SAMPLE SIZE: 226. RESULTS: Of the 226 children had BCG-vaccine related complications, 99% received BCG vaccine immediately after birth. The median age of presentation was 4 months. The most common complication was isolated BCG lymphadenitis (85%, n=192), followed by BCG-related osteomyelitis (10.2%, n=23) and disseminated BCG infection (4.9%, n=11). The median age of presentation of disseminated BCG was 5 months, with different organs involved. Out of 11 children with disseminated BCG infection, 72.7% (n=8) had primary immune deficiency (PID), including chronic granulomatous disease (CGD, n=5), severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) (n=2); 1 patient had Mendelian susceptibility to mycobacterial disease (IFNGR2 deficiency); 2 patients with PID not yet identified and the 1 with a non-specific PID had blood or saliva samples sent for whole-exome sequencing. CONCLUSION: Because of the spectrum of BCG vaccine-related complications, including the most severe in children with PID, we suggest that delaying the BCG vaccine from birth to 6 months may prevent disseminated BCG diseases and their complications in children with PID because any PID will have been identified before 6 months. Further studies are needed to guide this recommendation. LIMITATIONS: Single center-based study that may not provide a full overview of all BCG vaccine-related complications in Oman. Unavailability of details of some microbiological results and an inability to determine the detailed management for all patients. CONFLICT OF INTEREST: None.

The changing profile of paediatric HIV infection: An experience from the Middle East.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical and epidemiological profiles of HIV-infected Omani children before and after the implementation of the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) programme. METHODS: A retrospective review of HIV-infected children seen at a national paediatric HIV unit between 1992 and 2015 was performed. RESULTS: Ninety-one HIV-infected children were identified; 59 (65%) were ≤5 years of age at diagnosis, with 28 (47.5%) of these being <1 year old. The average annual incidence of infection per million children (≤14 years old) was 5.7, and the highest (11.6) was in 2010. At diagnosis, 48 (60%) patients had a CD4 count of ˂200cells/mm3. The median HIV viral load was 81600copies/ml at diagnosis and 5911copies/ml at 12 months after HIV treatment (p=0.015). The median CD4 count was 586cells/mm3 at diagnosis and 800cells/mm3 at 12 months after therapy (p=0.004). Compared to those diagnosed before 2009 (n=68), HIV-infected children diagnosed after 2009 (n=22) were more likely to be asymptomatic at the time of HIV diagnosis (23.5% (16/68) vs. 59.1% (13/22); p=0.002) and to have a favourable clinical outcome (42.6% (29/68) vs. 86.4% (19/22); p<0001). CONCLUSIONS: The number of HIV-infected children in Oman has decreased substantially since the introduction of the PMTCT programme. Furthermore, the HIV-infected children diagnosed after 2009 had higher proportions of asymptomatic HIV infections at diagnosis and favourable clinical outcomes, in comparison to those diagnosed before 2009.

Group A Streptococcal Pericarditis in a Four-Month-Old Infant: Case report.

Purulent pericarditis is uncommon among paediatric patients and cases caused by group A Streptococcus (GAS) are even rarer. We report a four-month-old female infant who was referred to the Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman, in 2015 with pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade. She had initially presented to a secondary hospital with a two-week history of fever, a runny nose and shortness of breath. Blood and pericardial fluid cultures confirmed GAS isolates. The infant was treated with a two-week course of antibiotics and made a complete recovery with no echocardiographical evidence of pericardial effusion at a two-month follow-up. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this case constitutes the youngest infant to present with GAS pericarditis. As invasive GAS infections can present in infancy, early recognition and treatment is required.

Impact of the revised penicillin susceptibility breakpoints for Streptococcus pneumoniae on antimicrobial resistance rates of meningeal and non-meningeal pneumococcal strains.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In January 2008, the Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) revised the Streptococcus pneumoniae breakpoints for penicillin to define the susceptibility of meningeal and non-meningeal isolates. We studied the impact of these changes. In addition, the pneumococcal resistance rate to other antimicrobial agents was reviewed. DESIGN AND SETTING: Laboratory data on peumococcal isolates collected retrospectively from hospitalized children in tertiary care hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from January 2006 to March 2012. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Only sterile samples were included from cerebrospinal fluids, blood, sterile body fluids and surgical tissue. Other samples such as sputum and non sterile samples were excluded. We included samples from children 14 years old or younger. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for penicillin, cefuroxime, ceftriaxone and meropenem were determined by using the E-test, while susceptibility to erythromycin, cotrimoxazole and vancomycin were measured using the disc diffusion methods following the guideline of CLSI. RESULTS: Specimens were analyzed in two different periods: from January 2006 to December 2007 and from January 2008 to March 2012. During the two periods there were 208 samples of which 203 were blood samples. Full penicillin resistance was detected in 6.6% in the first period. There was decrease in penicillin nonmeningeal resistance to 1.5% and an increase in resistance in penicillin meningeal 68.2% in the second period (P=.0001). There was an increase in rate of resistance among S pneumoniae isolates over the two periods to parenteral cefuroxime, erythromycin and cotrimoxazole by 34.6%, 35.5% and 51.9%, respectively. Total meropenem resistance found 4.3% and no vancomycin resistance was detected. CONCLUSIONS: The current study supports the use of the revised CLSI susceptibility breakpoints that promote using penicillin to treat nonmeningeal pneumococcal disease, and might slow the development of resistance to broader-spectrum antibiotics.

Emerging invasive nonvaccine pneumoccocal serotype 25.

Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is a bacterial pathogen that causes invasive infections, including septicemia and meningitis, as well as noninvasive infections such as community-acquired pneumonia, sinusitis and acute otitis media. Vaccination with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) has significantly reduced the burden of pneumococcal disease; however it targets only seven of the more than 92 pneumococcal serotypes. Concerns have been raised that nonvaccine serotypes could increase in prevalence and reduce the benefits of vaccination. We report one case with invasive nonvaccine serotype 25 that presented with meningitis.