Resveratrol plus carboxymethyl-ß-glucan in infants with common cold: A randomized double-blind trial.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate effectiveness of a nasal resveratrol/carboxymethyl-ß-glucan solution compared to nasal saline solution: a) on common cold symptoms by means of a validated measure scale (CARIFS score), b) on Rhinovirus infection and CCL2, CCL5, IL8, IL6, CXCL10 and TLR2 expression in nasal swabs, c) on frequency of relapses after 30 days of follow-up. METHODS: 89 infants with respiratory infection symptoms were randomly assigned to receive either a nasal resveratrol/carboxymethyl-ß-glucan solution or nasal saline solution.All patients were evaluated with CARIFS score at enrollment, after 48 h, 7 and 30 days by physicians and parents. Nasal swabs were obtained at enrollment, after 48 h and after one week. RESULTS: CARIFS score improved in both groups. Episodes of sneezing and cough were fewer in study group after 7 days of follow-up (p < 0.05). No significant differences were found on nasopharyngeal swabs in Rhinovirus detection and cytokines expression after 48 h, nor in 30 days relapses. TLR2 expression was significantly higher in Rhinovirus infected children of the study group. No adverse effects occurred. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that a solution containing resveratrol plus carboxymethyl-ß-glucan might have a positive impact on both clinical and socio-economic burden due to infant common cold.

Community-acquired pneumonia in children.

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains a frequent cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide even in industrialised countries, and its incidence is highest among children aged <5 years. Over the last two years, three international guidelines have been updated with new evidence concerning the incidence, aetiology and management of childhood CAP, but there are still some major problems in standardisation. The main aim of this review is to consider the available data concerning the aetiology, diagnosis, evaluation of severity, and treatment of paediatric CAP. Analysis of the literature shows that there are a number of unanswered questions concerning the management of CAP, including its definition, the absence of a paediatric CAP severity score, the difficulty of identifying its aetiology, the emergence of resistance of the most frequent respiratory pathogens to the most widely used anti-infectious agents, and the lack of information concerning the changes in CAP epidemiology following the introduction of vaccines against respiratory pathogens. More research is clearly required in various areas, and further efforts are needed to increase vaccination coverage with the already available vaccines in order to reduce the occurrence of the disease.