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Recently, epidemiological data shows an increase of childhood tuberculosis in Germany. In addition to this, drug resistant tuberculosis becomes more frequent. Therefore, diagnosis, prevention and therapy in childhood and adolescence remain a challenge. Adult guidelines do not work for children, as there are age specific differences in manifestation, risk of progression and diagnostic as well as therapeutic pathways.The German Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases (DGPI) has initiated a consensus-based (S2k) process and completed a paediatric guideline in order to improve and standardize care for children and adolescents with tuberculosis exposure, infection or disease.Updated dosage recommendations take age dependant pharmacokinetics in the treatment of drug sensitive but also drug resistant tuberculosis in account. In addition to this, there is a detailed chapter on perinatal exposure and disease as well as extrapulmonary manifestations.Aktuelle epidemiologische Daten zeigen in den letzten Jahren einen Anstieg der Tuberkulose im Kindes- und Jugendalter. Es findet sich zudem auch in Deutschland ein Anstieg von Infektionen mit gegenüber Tuberkulosemedikamenten resistenten Erregern. In diesem Zusammenhang stellt die Diagnose, Prävention und Therapie der Tuberkulose vor allem im Kindesalter eine Herausforderung dar.Leitlinien für die Diagnostik und Therapie der Tuberkulose im Erwachsenenalter können nicht generell auf das Kindesalter übertragen werden, da hier relevante altersabhängige Unterschiede bzgl. der Krankheitsprogression, Krankheitsmanifestation, Unterschiede in der Anwendung von diagnostischen Maßnahmen und der Therapie bestehen.Unter Federführung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Pädiatrische Infektiologie (DGPI) e. V. wurde die S2k-Leitlinie für die Diagnostik, Prävention und Therapie der Tuberkulose im Kindes- und Jugendalter verfasst, um die adäquate Versorgung von Kindern und Jugendlichen mit Tuberkulose-Exposition, Infektion oder Erkrankung nach neuesten wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen zu sichern.Aktualisierte Dosierungsempfehlungen berücksichtigen die altersabhängige Pharmakokinetik in der Therapie der medikamentensensiblen, aber auch resistenten Tuberkulose. Darüber hinaus werden die Themen perinatale Exposition und Erkrankung sowie die im Kindesalter häufigeren extrapulmonalen Manifestationsformen gesondert behandelt.

Protocols recommended in the USA and Germany for the postnatal treatment of congenital toxoplasmosis are mainly based on the National Collaborative Chicago-based Congenital Toxoplasmosis Study that calls for daily administration of pyrimethamine in combination with sulfadiazine for several months, then 3 times a week. The recommended total duration of treatment is 12 months. This scheme necessitates frequent white blood cell counts that often result in the discontinuation of treatment because of severe neutropenia even with the concomitant administration of folinic acid. In contrast, the administration of pyrimethamine with sulfadoxine every 2 weeks for 2 years, as used by a referral centre in Toulouse, France, is associated with less toxicity. The efficacy may even be improved, as judged by the rate of new chorioretinal lesions. In the absence of larger randomised studies the Toulouse protocol appears to have several advantages when a decision has to be made to treat infants with congenital toxoplasmosis.

The aim of the study was to assess the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes after antenatal antiretroviral therapy in a well-defined prospective cohort of nontransmitting HIV-infected women.Prospective monitoring of 183 mother-child pairs from 13 centres in Germany and Austria, delivering between 1995 and 2001, was carried out. Following German-Austrian guidelines recommending an elective Caesarean section (CS) at 36 weeks, prematurity was defined as36 weeks' gestation for these analyses.Of 183 mother-child pairs, 42% were exposed to antenatal monotherapy and 17% to dual therapy. Of the 75 women exposed to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), 21 (28%) received protease inhibitor (PI)-based HAART and the remaining 54 received nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-based HAART. In multivariable analysis (176 pregnancies), PI-based HAART exposure during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of premature delivery [adjusted odds ratio 3.40; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.13-10.2; P=0.029, compared with monotherapy]. Congenital abnormalities affected 3.3% infants. Perinatally, 18.9% of children (34 of 179) had respiratory problems requiring interventions, which were associated with prematurity but not with type of treatment exposure. From adjusted regression analysis, the mean birth weight z-score for children exposed to HAART with PI (+0.46; 95% CI 0.01-0.92; P=0.047) or dual therapy (+0.43; 95% CI 0.03-0.82; P=0.034) was slightly but significantly higher than that for those exposed to monotherapy; head circumference was appropriate for gestational age and there were no significant differences between treatment groups.Use of antenatal PI-based HAART initiated before or during pregnancy was associated with a significantly increased risk of premature delivery at36 weeks' gestation. The overall crude prematurity rate was 34% (63 of 183; 95% CI 28-42).

BACKGROUND: Risk factors for mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) are poorly quantified. METHODS: We conducted a European multicenter prospective study of HCV-infected pregnant women and their infants. Children with > or =2 positive HCV RNA polymerase chain reaction test results and/or anti-HCV antibodies after 18 months of age were considered to be infected. RESULTS: The overall HCV vertical transmission rate was 6.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.0%-7.5%; 91/1479). Girls were twice as likely to be infected as boys (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 2.07 [95% CI, 1.23-3.48]; P=.006). There was no protective effect of elective cesarean section (CS) delivery on HCV vertical transmission (adjusted OR, 1.46 [95% CI, 0.86-2.48]; P=.16). HCV/human immunodeficiency virus-coinfected women more frequently transmitted HCV than did women with HCV infection only, although the difference was not statistically significant (adjusted OR, 1.82 [95% CI, 0.94-3.52]; P=.08). Maternal history of injection drug use, prematurity, and breast-feeding were not significantly associated with transmission. Transmission occurred more frequently from viremic women, but it also occurred from a few nonviremic women. CONCLUSIONS: Our results strongly suggest that women should neither be offered an elective CS nor be discouraged from breast-feeding on the basis of HCV infection alone. The sex association is an intriguing finding that probably reflects biological differences in susceptibility or response to infection.

The data on the use of tipranavir and enfuvirtide in pregnancy are very limited. We performed a pharmacokinetic profile in a pregnant woman with multidrug-resistant HIV-1 infection at 37 weeks gestation. Tipranavir levels were in the therapeutic range and the cord blood concentration at delivery was relatively high when compared with other protease inhibitors. No enfuvirtide was detected in the fetal compartment. Tipranavir and enfuvirtide were successfully used in pregnancy, but possible toxicities must be kept in mind.