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Paediatric Wards (paediatric + ward)
Selected AbstractsClinical significance of polymicrobial bacteremia in newbornsJOURNAL OF PAEDIATRICS AND CHILD HEALTH, Issue 7 2005Piyush Gupta Objective: To identify whether polymicrobial bacteremia in newborns is associated with any predisposing factors, distinguishing clinical features, or higher mortality. Methods: Results of blood cultures obtained over a period of 1 year from neonates admitted to the paediatric ward and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a tertiary care hospital were retrospectively analysed. The study group included all cases with polymicrobial bacteremia (isolation of two or more organisms). Controls (double the number of study cases) were randomly selected from the monomicrobial group. Case records of included cases were retrieved and scrutinized. Results: Of 770 positive cultures during the study period, 52 (6.8%) cultures were positive for more than one organism. Complete case records were retrieved for 40 polymicrobial and 78 monomicrobial cases. The two groups were comparable for maternal and neonatal parameters including: maternal and obstetric complications; period of gestation; mode of delivery; birthweight and perinatal asphyxia; clinical symptomatology; invasive therapeutic interventions; and mortality. Conclusions: Isolation of more than one organism from the blood culture of a suspected septic newborn is not rare. It does not always represent a true invasion by multiple organisms. Polymicrobial isolation per se should not be the criterion for hastily changing the therapeutic decisions. [source] Seroprevalence of HIV infection in hospitalized paediatric patients at a tertiary care centre in western IndiaHIV MEDICINE, Issue 4 2007I Shah The prevalence of HIV infection in children in India is not known. In this study, a total of 270 children admitted to paediatric wards in Mumbai were screened for HIV infection by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Eight patients (2.96%) had a positive HIV ELISA. Of these two patients (25%) were less than 15 months of old and hence HIV infection in them could not be confirmed. The prevalence of HIV was 2.3%. Three out of 11 patients with tuberculosis (27.3%) and four out of 15 patients with nutritional anaemia (26.7%) had HIV infection (P<0.0001 in each case). Vertical transmission was the cause in all children, suggesting that implementation of Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission of HIV (PPTCT) is required to reduce the rate of paediatric HIV infection. [source] The braun thermoscan thermometer: validation of normal ranges in a paediatric practicePEDIATRIC ANESTHESIA, Issue 9 2002C.A. Streets Introduction Pyrexia is a common cause of operative cancellation in paediatric practice, and so the accurate determination of temperature is of paramount importance. Recently the Braun ThermoScan infrared aural thermometer has been introduced to Derriford Hospital as a safe and non-invasive technique for measuring temperature. Initially the published upper limits of normal for this technique appeared to be higher than expected. Initial experiences with the thermometer in Derriford Hospital produced high temperature readings in children who were otherwise clinically well. The aim of this study was to compare the manufacturer's published normal ranges with those obtained from a general paediatric population. Methods Ethics Committee approval was obtained. The study was conducted between July and November 2001. Patients less than 16 years of age, and admitted to either the Day Surgical Unit or the general paediatric wards for elective surgery were included. Each child had its temperature measured on admission using the Braun ThermoScan aural thermometer. The ages and temperatures were recorded, and the values compared with the manufacturer's normal ranges using standard error of the means. Results Preliminary data are reported from 248 children: 1,2 years (n = 30), 3,10 years (n = 159), and 11,15 years (n = 59). The table demonstrates that there is no significant statistical difference between the manufacturer's ranges and those of the Derriford Hospital paediatric elective surgical population. Discussion The Braun ThermoScan infrared aural thermometer is considered to be a safe, hygienic, and convenient technique for measuring temperature. Despite initial misgivings that a temperature approaching 38°C could not be considered normal, this study has confirmed that the manufacturer's published normal ranges are indeed compatible with those obtained from a district general hospital paediatric population. Conclusion This study validates the manufacturer's published normal range for the Braun ThermoScan thermometer. This therefore leaves a clinical dilemma , does a child with a temperature of 37.9°C have a pyrexia or not? [source] Prevalence of colonisation with third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae in ICU patients of Heidelberg University HospitalsCLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND INFECTION, Issue 5 2004H. Von Baum Abstract The aim of this study was to assess colonisation and transmission of third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) from patients in 16 intensive care units. A prospective, repetitive point prevalence survey was performed over 6 months, involving samples from 1851 patients. CRE were isolated from 186 (10%) patients, with Enterobacter spp. being the most common. Mean point prevalence rates were significantly higher for paediatric wards (22.5%) compared to surgical (8.1%) and medical (5.5%) units. All CRE isolates were typed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Non-outbreak nosocomial transmission rates of these pathogens were calculated as 12.8% for paediatric patients, compared to 6.8% for adult patients, which may reflect differences in sensitivity to overgrowth with resistant bacteria and contact with health care workers. [source] | ||||||||||