CONTEXT Underdiagnosed and misdiagnosed rickettsial infections are important public health problems. They also lead to extensive investigations in children with fever of undetermined origin contributing to financial burden on families. The present review addresses the epidemiology, clinical features, diagnosis and management issues of these infections, primarily for a practicing clinician. EV...

Sarcoidosis is a multisystemic disorder of unknown aetiology characterised by the formation of noncaseating epithelioid cell granuloma involving various organ systems. Cardiac involvement has an important prognostic factor as it can present with life-threatening arrythmias and sudden death. Here, we present a case of cardiac sarcoidosis in a 46-year-old gentleman who presented with nonspecific ...

Antibiotics are frequently prescribed to aid in the treatment of endodontic pain. Over the past 25years, several surveys of general dentists and endodontists have been conducted that illustrate a persistent pattern of prescribing antibiotics in conjunction with endodontic treatment (1–5). However, despite concurrent advances in our understanding of the biology of inflammatory and infectious pro...

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of gastroenteritis among children aged 4 years in South Australia. A cross-sectional survey of 9543 South Australian children aged 4 years was undertaken. Parents completed a questionnaire on behalf of their child who had attended a pre-school health check in 1998. The questionnaire covered gastrointestinal and respiratory symptoms experienc...

The associations between oral parafunctions, signs and symptoms of craniomandibular disorders (CMD), race, and sex were analysed in recordings from 203 4-6-year-old African-American and Caucasian children. Significant correlations were found between bruxism, nail biting, thumb sucking and most of the CMD signs and symptoms. There were also significant associations between most of the signs and ...

Data regarding risk factors for hospitalization among children with influenza B infection are limited. We conducted a retrospective study of 184 children with influenza B infection during October 2011 - September 2012 seen at Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute, Thailand; clinical and laboratory data were compared between hospitalized and outpatient children. The numbers of hospitalize...

Results Among the 1315 reported cases of anaphylaxis, 541 could be classified as food anaphylaxis, with level 1 (38%), level 2 (59%), and level 3 (3%) of probability. 212 patients were children (< 18yrs, age 7.4±5.4 yrs, M/ F=2.0), and 329 were adults (age 35.5±12.9 yrs, M/F= 0.5). The main implicated food allergens were nuts (31%), egg (16%), milk (15%), fish (8%) and sesame (7%) in children a...

BACKGROUND Anaphylaxis is a severe, life-threatening situation. However, little is known about real-life anaphylactic management in children, especially in kindergarten and school settings, where a large number of anaphylaxes take place. METHODS Parents, school teachers and child-care providers of 86 primary schools and kindergartens in the city of Dresden, Germany, received questionnaires to...

Twenty-five children with clinical egg hypersensitivity, confirmed by double-blind challenge, were followed for between 2 and 2 1/2 years. Clinical egg hypersensitivity was fund to have resolved in 11 children but was persistent in 14. Skin prick tests reactions to egg were initially of equivalent size in the resolved and persistent groups, but became negative or diminished in size with resolut...

BACKGROUND Diagnostic delay in patients with tuberculosis (TB) leads to ongoing TB transmission, higher mortality rates and increased patient and government health expenditure. Qualitative research focussed on patients' self-perceptions of disease and their care-seeking behaviour helps to guide health education programmes by providing us with the understanding of the knowledge, attitudes and pr...