Invasive Bacterial Infections in Afebrile Infants Diagnosed With Acute Otitis Media.

2021

2021 01

1098-4275

<p><strong>OBJECTIVES: </strong>To determine the prevalence of invasive bacterial infections (IBIs) and adverse events in afebrile infants with acute otitis media (AOM).</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong>We conducted a 33-site cross-sectional study of afebrile infants ≤90 days of age with AOM seen in emergency departments from 2007 to 2017. Eligible infants were identified using emergency department diagnosis codes and confirmed by chart review. IBIs (bacteremia and meningitis) were determined by the growth of pathogenic bacteria in blood or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) culture. Adverse events were defined as substantial complications resulting from or potentially associated with AOM. We used generalized linear mixed-effects models to identify factors associated with IBI diagnostic testing, controlling for site-level clustering effect.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>Of 5270 infants screened, 1637 met study criteria. None of the 278 (0%; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0%-1.4%) infants with blood cultures had bacteremia; 0 of 102 (0%; 95% CI: 0%-3.6%) with CSF cultures had bacterial meningitis; 2 of 645 (0.3%; 95% CI: 0.1%-1.1%) infants with 30-day follow-up had adverse events, including lymphadenitis (1) and culture-negative sepsis (1). Diagnostic testing for IBI varied across sites and by age; overall, 278 (17.0%) had blood cultures, and 102 (6.2%) had CSF cultures obtained. Compared with infants 0 to 28 days old, older infants were less likely to have blood cultures ( &lt; .001) or CSF cultures ( &lt; .001) obtained.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSION: </strong>Afebrile infants with clinician-diagnosed AOM have a low prevalence of IBIs and adverse events; therefore, outpatient management without diagnostic testing may be reasonable.</p>

10.1542/peds.2020-1571

Pediatrics

33288730

Predictors of Invasive Herpes Simplex Virus Infection in Young Infants.

2021

2021 Aug 26

1098-4275

<p><strong>OBJECTIVES: </strong>To identify independent predictors of and derive a risk score for invasive herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection.</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong>In this 23-center nested case-control study, we matched 149 infants with HSV to 1340 controls; all were ≤60 days old and had cerebrospinal fluid obtained within 24 hours of presentation or had HSV detected. The primary and secondary outcomes were invasive (disseminated or central nervous system) or any HSV infection, respectively.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>Of all infants included , 90 (60.4%) had invasive and 59 (39.6%) had skin, eyes, and mouth disease. Predictors independently associated with invasive HSV included younger age (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 9.1 [95% confidence interval (CI): 3.4-24.5] &lt;14 and 6.4 [95% CI: 2.3 to 17.8] 14-28 days, respectively, compared with &gt;28 days), prematurity (aOR: 2.3, 95% CI: 1.1 to 5.1), seizure at home (aOR: 6.1, 95% CI: 2.3 to 16.4), ill appearance (aOR: 4.2, 95% CI: 2.0 to 8.4), abnormal triage temperature (aOR: 2.9, 95% CI: 1.6 to 5.3), vesicular rash (aOR: 54.8, (95% CI: 16.6 to 180.9), thrombocytopenia (aOR: 4.4, 95% CI: 1.6 to 12.4), and cerebrospinal fluid pleocytosis (aOR: 3.5, 95% CI: 1.2 to 10.0). These variables were transformed to derive the HSV risk score (point range 0-17). Infants with invasive HSV had a higher median score (6, interquartile range: 4-8) than those without invasive HSV (3, interquartile range: 1.5-4), with an area under the curve for invasive HSV disease of 0.85 (95% CI: 0.80-0.91). When using a cut-point of ≥3, the HSV risk score had a sensitivity of 95.6% (95% CI: 84.9% to 99.5%), specificity of 40.1% (95% CI: 36.8% to 43.6%), and positive likelihood ratio 1.60 (95% CI: 1.5 to 1.7) and negative likelihood ratio 0.11 (95% CI: 0.03 to 0.43).</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>A novel HSV risk score identified infants at extremely low risk for invasive HSV who may not require routine testing or empirical treatment.</p>

10.1542/peds.2021-050052

Pediatrics

34446535

Test Characteristics of Cerebrospinal Fluid Gram Stain to Identify Bacterial Meningitis in Infants Younger Than 60 Days.

2018

2018 Nov 12

1535-1815

<p>In our cohort of 20,947 infants aged 60 days or younger, cerebrospinal fluid Gram stain had a sensitivity of 34.3% (95% confidence interval, 28.1%-41.1%) and a positive predictive value of 61.4% (95% confidence interval, 52.2%-69.8%) for positive cerebrospinal fluid culture, suggesting that Gram stain alone may lead to both underdiagnosis and overdiagnosis of bacterial meningitis.</p>

10.1097/PEC.0000000000001639

Pediatr Emerg Care

30422943

Herpes Simplex Virus Infection in Infants Undergoing Meningitis Evaluation.

2018

pii: e20171688

2018 Feb

1098-4275

<p><strong>BACKGROUND: </strong>Although neonatal herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a potentially devastating infection requiring prompt evaluation and treatment, large-scale assessments of the frequency in potentially infected infants have not been performed.</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong>We performed a retrospective cross-sectional study of infants ≤60 days old who had cerebrospinal fluid culture testing performed in 1 of 23 participating North American emergency departments. HSV infection was defined by a positive HSV polymerase chain reaction or viral culture. The primary outcome was the proportion of encounters in which HSV infection was identified. Secondary outcomes included frequency of central nervous system (CNS) and disseminated HSV, and HSV testing and treatment patterns.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>Of 26 533 eligible encounters, 112 infants had HSV identified (0.42%, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.35%-0.51%). Of these, 90 (80.4%) occurred in weeks 1 to 4, 10 (8.9%) in weeks 5 to 6, and 12 (10.7%) in weeks 7 to 9. The median age of HSV-infected infants was 14 days (interquartile range: 9-24 days). HSV infection was more common in 0 to 28-day-old infants compared with 29- to 60-day-old infants (odds ratio 3.9; 95% CI: 2.4-6.2). Sixty-eight (0.26%, 95% CI: 0.21%-0.33%) had CNS or disseminated HSV. The proportion of infants tested for HSV (35%; range 14%-72%) and to whom acyclovir was administered (23%; range 4%-53%) varied widely across sites.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>An HSV infection was uncommon in young infants evaluated for CNS infection, particularly in the second month of life. Evidence-based approaches to the evaluation for HSV in young infants are needed.</p>

10.1542/peds.2017-1688

Pediatrics

29298827