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<p>A biomarker for viral infection could improve the differentiation between viral and bacterial infections and reduce antibiotic overuse. We examined blood myxovirus resistance protein A (MxA) as a biomarker for viral infections in children with an acute infection. We recruited 251 children presenting with a clinical suspicion of serious bacterial infection, determined by need for a blood bacterial culture collection, and 14 children with suspected viral infection at two pediatric emergency departments. All children were aged between 4 weeks and 16 years. We classified cases according to the viral, bacterial, or other etiology of the final diagnosis. The ability of MxA to differentiate between viral and bacterial infections was assessed. The median blood MxA levels were 467 (interquartile range, 235 to 812) μg/L in 39 children with a viral infection, 469 (178 to 827) μg/L in 103 children with viral-bacterial coinfection, 119 (68 to 227) μg/L in 75 children with bacterial infection, and 150 (101 to 212) μg/L in 26 children with bacterial infection and coincidental virus finding (P < 0.001). In a receiver operating characteristics analysis, MxA cutoff level of 256 μg/L differentiated between children with viral and bacterial infections with an area under the curve of 0.81 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.73 to 0.90), a sensitivity of 74.4%, and a specificity of 80.0%. In conclusion, MxA protein showed moderate accuracy as a biomarker for symptomatic viral infections in children hospitalized with an acute infection. High prevalence of viral-bacterial coinfections supports the use of MxA in combination with biomarkers of bacterial infection.<br></p>...

<p>Objectives: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of hospitalization in young children, but there are little data on RSV infections in early childhood in the community. We conducted a prospective population-based ...

<p>Mycoplasma pneumoniae on pieni soluseinätön bakteeri, jonka aiheuttamat tautitapaukset painottuvat talvikauteen sekä isompiin epidemioihin. Edellinen laajempi epidemia Pohjois-Euroopassa oli vuosina 2010-2012. Keuhkokuumeen ...

<p><strong>Background:</strong> Rhinovirus (RV) is the most common cause of respiratory tract infections in children but, still, the clinical characteristics of RV-associated pneumonia have not been sufficiently ...

<p>The emergence of novel variants of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has made it more difficult to prevent the virus from spreading despite available vaccines. Reports of breakthrough ...

We aimed to explore the role of TLR4 (rs4986790) polymorphism in the nasopharyngeal (NP) bacterial colonization and its consequent impact on the development of childhood asthma. A semi-quantitative culture of NP swabs was ...

Serological assays are used to diagnose and characterize host immune responses against microbial pathogens. Microarray technologies facilitate high-throughput immunoassays of antibody detection against multiple pathogens ...

<p>The supply of testing equipment is vital in controlling the spread of SARS-CoV-2. We compared the diagnostic efficacy and tolerability of molded plastic (FinSwab; Valukumpu, Finland) versus flocked nylon (FLOQSwab; ...

<p>Seasonal human coronaviruses (HCoVs) cause respiratory infections, especially in children. Currently, the knowledge on early childhood seasonal coronavirus infections and the duration of antibody levels following the ...

<p>Introduction: Prenatal exposure to maternal psychological distress (PD) may have programming effects on the fetus/infant hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and subsequently on the development of the fetus’ immune ...