ABSTRACT
AIM: To describe the chickenpox complications in children in Italy. METHODS: Hospital discharge data from 1 January 2002 to 15 June 2006 were queried for patients less than 18 years of age in three Italian paediatric university hospitals. RESULTS: During the study period, 349 children (189 males, 160 females) were admitted. Thirteen out of 349 (3.7%) of them had serious underlying diseases. Two hundred and sixty-one (74.8%) children (median age: 41 months, range: 6 days -to 200 months) had complicated chickenpox. Among complications, neurological disorders were the most common (100/261 = 38.3%), followed by skin and soft tissue infections (63/261 = 24.1%), lower respiratory tract infections (57/261 = 21.8%) and haematological disorders (24/261 = 9.2%). Children with neurological complications were significantly older and had a longer hospital stay than those with other complications. Three children with encephalitis and cerebellitis had developed long-term sequelae by the 6-month follow-up. The mortality rate was 0.4% (1/261 children with complicated chickenpox). CONCLUSION: Chickenpox is a disease that can provoke serious complications and long hospital stays, even in healthy children. Our findings may be useful as background to evaluate the impact of a tetravalent measles-mumps-rubella-varicella vaccine (MMRV) which is going to be introduced in Italy.
Subject(s)
Chickenpox/epidemiology , Hospitalization/statistics & numerical data , Brain Diseases/etiology , Chickenpox/complications , Chickenpox Vaccine , Child , Female , Humans , Italy/epidemiology , Length of Stay , Male , Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine , Risk Factors , Severity of Illness Index , Vaccines, CombinedSubject(s)
Bacteremia/microbiology , Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency/complications , Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections/diagnosis , Micrococcaceae/pathogenicity , Osteochondrodysplasias/complications , Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use , Bacteremia/complications , Child, Preschool , Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency/microbiology , Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections/complications , Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections/drug therapy , Humans , Male , Microbial Sensitivity Tests , Osteochondrodysplasias/microbiology , Rifampin/therapeutic use , SyndromeABSTRACT
A female child with peculiar facies, obesity, cleft lip and palate, growth hormone deficiency and mental retardation is described. The present case does not appear to fit any of the known syndromes.
Subject(s)
Cleft Lip/genetics , Cleft Palate/genetics , Facies , Human Growth Hormone/deficiency , Intellectual Disability/genetics , Obesity/genetics , Child, Preschool , Cleft Lip/diagnosis , Cleft Palate/diagnosis , Female , Humans , Intellectual Disability/diagnosis , Obesity/diagnosisABSTRACT
Mucopolysaccharidosis type II (MPS II, Hunter syndrome) is a lysosomal disease caused by the deficiency of the enzyme iduronate-2-sulfatase (IDS, EC 3.1.6.13). Affected patients show a wide spectrum of clinical phenotypes, from severe to mild. Mutational analysis on this disease resulted in the identification of more than 200 alterations. Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is considered, at present, an appropriate therapy for MPS II subjects without severe neuropsychological impairment, however molecular analysis in BMT treated patients has been poorly studied. We describe here a patient subjected to BMT in 1995 whose IDS gene alteration, mutation P266H, was identified thereafter. The 4-year follow-up included clinical, biochemical and molecular parameters. DNA analysis showed, after BMT, coexisting host mutant and donor normal alleles, ensuring the effectiveness of the therapy and providing a fast and accurate tool to monitor the colonization of donor cells after treatment.
