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Background: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a leading cause of meningitis in countries where pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) targeting commonly occurring serotypes are not routinely used. However, effectiveness of PCV would be jeopardized by emergence of invasive pneumococcal diseases (IPD) caused by serotypes which are not included in PCV. Systematic hospital based surveillance in Bangladesh was established and progressively improved to determine the pathogens causing childhood sepsis and meningitis. This also provided the foundation for determining the spectrum of serotypes causing IPD. This article reports an unprecedented upsurge of serotype 2, an uncommon pneumococcal serotype, without any known intervention. Methods and Findings: Cases with suspected IPD had blood or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) collected from the beginning of 2001 till 2009. Pneumococcal serotypes were determined by capsular swelling of isolates or PCR of culture-negative CSF specimens. Multicenter national surveillance, expanded from 2004, identified 45,437 patients with suspected bacteremia who were blood cultured and 10,618 suspected meningitis cases who had a lumber puncture. Pneumococcus accounted for 230 culture positive cases of meningitis in children <5 years. Serotype-2 was the leading cause of pneumococcal meningitis, accounting for 20.4% (45/221; 95% CI 15%-26%) of cases. Ninety eight percent (45/46) of these serotype-2 strains were isolated from meningitis cases, yielding the highest serotype-specific odds ratio for meningitis (29.6; 95% CI 3.4-256.3). The serotype-2 strains had three closely related pulsed field gel electrophoresis types. Conclusions: S. pneumoniae serotype-2 was found to possess an unusually high potential for causing meningitis and was the leading serotype-specific cause of childhood meningitis in Bangladesh over the past decade. Persisting disease occurrence or progressive spread would represent a major potential infection threat since serotype-2 is not included in PCVs currently licensed or under development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Pneumonia contributes substantially to childhood mortality in Bangladesh. We conducted a study to characterize the disease severity and risk factors for mortality among children hospitalized for pneumonia in Bangladesh. Methods. We analyzed data on hospitalization, patient characteristics, and mortality collected by a multicenter hospital-based surveillance of pneumonia in Bangladesh. Results. From May 2004 through April 2007, 4155 children aged 2-59 months who met a pneumonia case definition adopted by GAVI's Pneumococcal Vaccines Accelerated Development and Introduction Plan-sponsored surveillance networks were enrolled after blood culture specimens were obtained. The mean duration (± SD) from illness onset to hospital admission was 6 ± 3 days; 1842 children (44%) received antimicrobial treatment before hospitalization, and an additional 924 (22%) received antimicrobial treatment after admission to the hospital. Bacteria were isolated from 161 (4%) of the 4155 specimens, including 10 (6%) Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates and 5 (3%) Haemophilus influenzae type b isolates. The case-fatality rate for pneumonia in the hospital was 4% (150 deaths), and the children who died did so after a median of 2 days of hospitalization (range, 0-24 days). Infancy was highly associated with death due to pneumonia (odds ratio [OR], 2.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3-3.2), as were very severe pneumonia (OR, 7.9; 95% CI, 5.6-11.2), a blood culture positive for bacteria (OR, 3.4; 95% CI, 2.0-5.8), severe malnutrition (OR, 4.6; 95% CI, 2.9-7.4), and delayed admission (mean [± SD] duration from illness onset to admission, 6 ± 6 days, compared with 5 ± 4 days for survivors; P< .04). Conclusions. The prevalence of pneumonia among children aged <5 years in hospitals in Bangladesh is high. However, the isolation rate of bacteria is low, possibly because of the high (68%) background use of antibiotics. Multiple risk factors associated with pneumonia case fatality suggest multiple strategies, including vaccines, to reduce pneumonia-related and overall child mortality in Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Vaccines offer the prospect of primary disease prevention of pneumococcal disease in childhood. For introduction of such vaccines in developing countries, information about disease epidemiology is necessary. Methods. We evaluated antimicrobial susceptibility and serotype distribution of invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae disease in children aged <5 years in a network of 7 hospitals in Bangladesh from May 2004 through May 2007. Results. Of 17,969 blood cultures and 3765 cerebrospinal fluid cultures, 139 yielded S. pneumoniae isolates; 94 were from meningitis cases, 13 were from pneumonia cases, and 32 were from sepsis cases. Among the children with positive culture results, 73% were aged <12 months and 90% were aged <24 months. Complete resistance against penicillin, chloramphenicol, and cotrimoxazole was found in 0%, 6%, and 32% of isolates, respectively. Of the 37 serotypes observed, the predominant serotypes were 2 (17%), 1 (12%), 14 (7%), 5 (6%), 7F (6%), 45 (7%), and 12A (4%). Serotypes differed between meningitis cases and nonmeningitis cases, especially for serotype 2 (25% of meningitis cases vs. 0% of pneumonia cases; P< .001). The 7-, 10-, and 13-valent vaccines would cover 20% (95% confidence interval [I], 13%-27%), 43% (95% CI, 35%-51%), and 50% (95% CI, 42%-58%) of these cases of invasive pneumococcal disease overall, with higher coverage of nonmeningitis cases, compared with meningitis cases (7-valent coverage, 23% vs. 18%; 10-valent coverage, 55% vs. 38%; 13-valent coverage, 66% vs. 42%). Conclusions. High levels of nonsusceptibility to cotrimoxazole and susceptibility to penicillin suggest that penicillin may be a drug of choice for treatment of invasive pneumococcal disease. Although serotype distribution is diverse, with changes over time and differences between syndromes observed, implementation of use of the currently available 10- or 13-valent vaccines would have a substantial impact on pneumococcal disease in Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Since the underlying mechanisms of febrile seizure (FS) having multi-factorial aetiology yet remains unclear, we conducted this prospectively designed cross-sectional study to determine if there was any simultaneous change in zinc (Zn) concentration (conc.) in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) among the FS children in comparison to their matched non-seizure febrile (NSF) peers. Methods: Zn concentration (level) in both serum (intravenous blood) and CSF (lumber puncture: LP) of 50 children with FS and 30 NSF peers (serving as control) were measured employing graphite furnace atomic absorbance spectrophotometer. Data were analysed to compare Zn level between two groups using appropriate statistical tools employing SPSS/Windows 12.0. Results: Mean Zn conc. in both serum and CSF was less in FS children (464.60 ± 64.57 and 46.28 ± 7.46, respectively) than their matched NSF peers (749.33 ± 73.19 μg/L and 111.28 ± 19.11 μg/L, respectively) showing significant differences both in serum (p < 0.001) and CSF (p < 0.001). None of serum or CSF-Zn differed significantly with age, degree and duration of fever between FS and NSF peers. CSF-Zn among these children showed an upward trend in LP specimen taken beyond 12 h following FS episodes. Conclusion and recommendation: Serum and CSF-Zn simultaneously decreased in FS children in comparison to their matched NSF peers. Further prospectively designed multicentral studies are recommended to conduct in geographically diverse regions involving larger sample to confirm or refute our findings. It remains crucial in standardizing/strengthening national seizure prevention protocol with adequate Zn supplementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Nipah virus (NiV) is an emerging zoonosis. Central nervous system disease frequently results in high case-fatality. Long-term neurological assessments of survivors are limited. We assessed long-term neurologic and functional outcomes of 22 patients surviving NiV illness in Bangladesh. Methods During August 2005 and May 2006, we administered a questionnaire on persistent symptoms and functional difficulties to 22 previously identified NiV infection survivors. We performed neurologic evaluations and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Results Twelve (55%) subjects were male; median age was 14.5 years (range 6-50). Seventeen (77%) survived encephalitis, and 5 survived febrile illness. All but 1 subject had disabling fatigue, with a median duration of 5 months (range, 8 days-8 months). Seven encephalitis patients (32% overall), but none with febrile illness had persistent neurologic dysfunction, including static encephalopathy (n = 4), ocular motor palsies (2), cervical dystonia (2), focal weakness (2), and facial paralysis (1). Four cases had delayed-onset neurologic abnormalities months after acute illness. Behavioral abnormalities were reported by caregivers of over 50% of subjects under age 16. MRI abnormalities were present in 15, and included multifocal hyperintensities, cerebral atrophy, and confluent cortical and subcortical signal changes. Interpretation Although delayed progression to neurologic illness following Nipah fever was not observed, persistent fatigue and functional impairment was frequent. Neurologic sequelae were frequent following Nipah encephalitis. Neurologic dysfunction may persist for years after acute infection, and new neurologic dysfunction may develop after acute illness. Survivors of NiV infection may experience substantial long-term neurologic and functional morbidity. Ann Neurol 2007 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 6-year-old boy from Comilla, was admitted in Dhaka Medical College Hospital with exertional dyspnea, central cyanosis, clubbing and was finally diagnosed as pulmonary Arterio-Venous Malformation (PAVM) by bubble contrast echocardiography, and pulmonary CT angiography. As PAVM is rare in children, it is often not thought of in differential diagnoses and the diagnosis remains in disguise. In this report, we described the clinical presentation of 6-year-old child with PAVM and also how to investigate the case to get the diagnosis.