Category: Infectious Diseases

Categories
Infectious Diseases

Mastoiditis

Does mastoiditis always present with the classic triad of swelling behind the ear, otalgia, and protrusion of the auricle? Do you need to get a CT to make the diagnosis? What is the exact relationship with acute otitis media? Can swimmer’s ear turn into mastoiditis? These questions and more are why I recorded this episode of PEM Currents: The Pediatric Emergency Medicine Podcast.

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References

Geva et al. Conservative management of acute mastoiditis in children. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2008;72(5):629.

Groth et al. Acute mastoiditis in children aged 0-16 years–a national study of 678 cases in Sweden comparing different age groups. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2012;76(10):1494.

Leskinen et al. Complications of acute otitis media in children. Curr Allergy Asthma Rep. 2005;5(4):308.

Thompson et al. Effect of antibiotics for otitis media on mastoiditis in children: a retrospective cohort study using the United kingdom general practice research database. Pediatrics. 2009;123(2):424.

van den Aardweg  et al. A systematic review of diagnostic criteria for acute mastoiditis in children. Otol Neurotol. 2008;29(6):751. 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:12 — 20.9MB)

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Infectious Diseases

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) is an evolving clinical entity that is occurring, possibly in association with or following a COVID-19 infection. This episode of PEM Currents expands upon a recent PEMBlog post, as well as includes information from two studies published in The Lancet as well as included in a recent CDC webinar. This episode also provides recommendations on lab workup and the evolving criteria for diagnosis and the current case definition from the CDC.

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References

CDC Webinar: Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) Associated with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). May 19, 2020.

CDC Health Alert Network: Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) Associated with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Accessed May 15, 2020.

Riphagen et al. Hyperinflammatory shock in children during COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet. 2020. Advance online publication, doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31094

Verdoni et al. An outbreak of severe Kawasaki-like disease at the Italian epicentre of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic: an observational cohort study. Lancet. 2020. Advance online publication, doi: 10.1016/ S0140-6736(20)31129-6 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:14 — 20.9MB)

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Infectious Diseases

Talking with patients and families about the flu

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with the always delightful Dr. Patricia Chambers to talk about influenza. In our conversation we reviewed how to discuss testing or not for the flu, as well as why antivirals are not always indicated. I firmly believe that perhaps the most important thing that we do in the Pediatric Emergency Department is communicating with patients and their families. Ultimately, they must understand why we do what we do (or don’t do). Patricia is an expert in this realm and I hope that you will learn as much as I did by listening to this episode of PEM Currents: The Pediatric Emergency Medicine Podcast.

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References

Grohskopf et al. et al. Prevention and Control of Seasonal Influenza with Vaccines: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — United States, 2019–20 Influenza Season. CDC recommendations and Reports. August 23, 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/rr/rr6803a1.htm?s_cid=rr6803a1_w. Accessed December 18, 2019.

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Infectious Diseases

Sinusitis

Did you know that up to 9% of URIs are eventually complicated by acute sinusitis in children? This episode of PEM Currents, the Pediatric Emergency Medicine podcast focuses on making the diagnosis of acute bacterial rhinosinusitis clinically and when to pull the antibiotic prescription trigger.

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References

Chow AW, Benninger MS, Brook I, Brozek JL, Goldstein EJ, Hicks LA, Pankey GA, Seleznick M, Volturo G, Wald ER, File TM Jr, Infectious Diseases Society of America. IDSA clinical practice guideline for acute bacterial rhinosinusitis in children and adults. Clin Infect Dis. 2012;54(8):e72.

Hicks CW, Weber JG, Reid JR, Moodley M. Identifying and managing intracranial complications of sinusitis in children: a retrospective series. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2011;30(3):222.

Wald ER, Applegate KE, Bordley C, Darrow DH, Glode MP, Marcy SM, Nelson CE, Rosenfeld RM, Shaikh N, Smith MJ, Williams PV, Weinberg ST, American Academy of Pediatrics. Clinical practice guideline for the diagnosis and management of acute bacterial sinusitis in children aged 1 to 18 years. Pediatrics. 2013;132(1):e262.

Wald ER, Milmoe GJ, Bowen A, Ledesma-Medina J, Salamon N, Bluestone CD. Acute maxillary sinusitis in children. N Engl J Med. 1981;304(13):749.

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Categories
gastroenterology Infectious Diseases

Probiotics for Gastroenteritis

This episode of PEM Currents features an in-depth interview with the lead author on the recent New England Journal paper on the use of probiotics in gastroenteritis. David Schnadower was kind enough to sit down with me and James Gray, a Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellow from Cincinnati Children’s to talk about the study and its implications for the care of children with infectious gastroenteritis. You will find a full transcript of the podcast on PEMBlog.com.

Read the full article from the New England Journal of Medicine.

References

Freedman et al. Multicenter Trial of a Combination Probiotic for Children with Gastroenteritis. N Engl J Med 2018; 379:2015-2026. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1802597.

Schnadower et al. Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG versus Placebo for Acute Gastroenteritis in Children. NEJM 2018; 379:2002-2014. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1802598.

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Infectious Diseases

Acute Flaccid Myelitis

Acute Flaccid Myelitis is a rare but serious disease characterized by rapid onset of muscle weakness. Diagnosis also requires an MRI with lesions in multiple spinal levels or CSF pleocytosis. cases have been reported over the past several years and though a specific cause is unknown strains of enterovirus are suspected culprits.

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References

AAP – Acute Flaccid Myelitis in Children

CDC / Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists: Revision to the Standardized Surveillance and Case Definition for Acute Flaccid Myelitis

CDC: Acute Flaccid Myelitis

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Infectious Diseases

Acute Otitis Media

OK, so this is the least exciting topic in Pediatric Emergency Medicine… With that being said, you will all see it. And we need to be good at looking at ears, diagnosing acute otitis media, and appropriately choosing when and which antibiotic to prescribe.

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References

Karma PH, et al., Pneumatic otoscopy and otitis media: The value of different tympanic membrane findings and their combinations. In: Recent advances in otitis media: proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium, Lim DJ, Bluestone CD, Klein JO, et al (Eds), Decker, Burlington, Ontario 1993. p.41.

Lieberthal et al., The Diagnosis and Management of Acute Otitis Media. Pediatrics, March 2013, Volume 131 / Issue 3.

Rothman et al., Does this child have acute otitis media? JAMA. 2003;290(12):1633.

Shaikh et al., Development of an algorithm for the diagnosis of otitis media. Acad Pediatr. 2012;12(3):214. Epub 2012 Mar 28.

Thompson M, et al., Duration of symptoms of respiratory tract infections in children: systematic review. TARGET Programme BMJ. 2013;347:f7027. Epub 2013 Dec 11.

Venekamp RP, et al., Antibiotics for acute otitis media in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 201.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:18 — 18.9MB)

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Infectious Diseases Podcast

Testing for Influenza

You don’t need a flu test to diagnose the flu! But there are situations where rapid antigen testing or PCR is valuable. Listen to this episode of PEM Currents, the Pediatric Emergency Medicine podcast, to learn more about the test characteristics of common assays and when to obtain testing when prevalence rates for the flu are high.

Check out the companion post (basically show notes) on PEMBlog.

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References

CDC: Rapid Diagnostic Testing for Influenza

CDC: Guidance for Clinicians on the Use of RT-PCR and Other Molecular Assays for Diagnosis of Influenza Virus Infection

Silvennoinen H, Peltola V, Lehtinen P, VainionpääR, Heikkinen T. Clinical presentation of influenza in unselected children treated as outpatients. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2009;28(5):372. 

Merckx J, Wali R, Schiller I, Caya C, Gore GC, Chartrand C, Dendukuri N, Papenburg J. Diagnostic Accuracy of Novel and Traditional Rapid Tests for Influenza Infection Compared With Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Ann Intern Med. 2017 Sep 19;167(6):394-409. doi: 10.7326/M17-0848. Epub 2017 Sep 5.

Mansour et al. Comparative Cost Analysis Between PCR Testing and DFA Testing for Diagnosing Respiratory Virus Infections. American Journal of Clinical Pathology, Volume 144, Issue suppl_2, 1 October 2015, Pages A209.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:35 — 9.9MB)

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Categories
Infectious Diseases Respiratory

Bronchiolitis

I’m sure that you’ll probably see a case of bronchiolitis this winter. Call it a hunch. In this episode of PEM Currents you’ll learn why suctioning and ensuring hydration are still the mainstays of therapy, and why albuterol, racemic epinephrine, steroids and more don’t have a place in routine cases. And if you read any publication to supplement this podcast make it the most recent American Academy of Pediatrics Guideline on Bronchiolitis.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:20 — 19.8MB)

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Infectious Diseases

Community Acquired Pneumonia

Fever, tachypnea and rales – it must be a community acquired pneumonia… right? Learn more about the diagnosis and management of this common problem in the Pediatric Emergency Department.

Essential Reading

Bradley JS, Byington CL, Shah SS, Alverson B, Carter ER, Harrison C, Kaplan SL, Mace SE, McCracken GH Jr, Moore MR, St Peter SD, Stockwell JA, Swanson JT; Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society and the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Executive summary: the management of community-acquired pneumonia in infants and children older than 3 months of age: clinical practice guidelines by the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society and the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Clin Infect Dis. 2011 Oct;53(7):617-30. PMID: 21890766.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:15 — 23.5MB)

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