Whole-genome sequencing confirms infection in a child with shock and suspected multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children: A case report.

Background: Differentiating severe systemic inflammatory syndromes from sepsis can be challenging. The diagnostic process may be further complicated by concurrent infection and hyperinflammation, with important management implications. We report a child with suspected multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, who was unexpectedly diagnosed with gastroenteritis.

Imported congenital malaria caused by : A case report.

We describe a 5-week-old term infant with severe congenital malaria in a non-endemic setting. She presented with diarrhea, poor feeding, lethargy, hepatosplenomegaly, and severe anemia. She was fortuitously diagnosed with malaria on routine blood smear, and successfully treated with intravenous artesunate.

Children hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia complicated by effusion: a single-centre retrospective cohort study.

Objectives: To describe children hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia complicated by effusion (cCAP).

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: A Canadian children's hospital.

Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Moxifloxacin to Guide Treatment of Meningitis in an Extremely Preterm Infant.

() is a rare cause of neonatal bacterial meningitis. Treatment can be challenging because of ' intrinsic antibiotic resistance and the difficulty in accessing antimicrobial susceptibility testing. In this report, we describe an extremely preterm male infant with seizures who had a subsequent diagnosis of meningitis.

Clinical manifestations and health outcomes associated with Zika virus infections in adults: A systematic review.

Background: Zika virus (ZIKV) has generated global interest in the last five years mostly due to its resurgence in the Americas between 2015 and 2016. It was previously thought to be a self-limiting infection causing febrile illness in less than one quarter of those infected. However, a rise in birth defects amongst children born to infected pregnant women, as well as increases in neurological manifestations in adults has been demonstrated.

A common TLR1 polymorphism is associated with higher parasitaemia in a Southeast Asian population with Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

Background: The factors leading to poor outcomes in malaria infection are incompletely understood. Common genetic variation exists in the human genes for Toll like receptors (TLRs) that alter host responses to pathogen-associated molecular patterns. Genetic variation in TLR1 and TLR6 could alter the risk of development of complicated malaria and ability of the host to control the parasite burden during acute Plasmodium falciparum infection.

Biomarkers of Host Response Predict Primary End-Point Radiological Pneumonia in Tanzanian Children with Clinical Pneumonia: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: Diagnosing pediatric pneumonia is challenging in low-resource settings. The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined primary end-point radiological pneumonia for use in epidemiological and vaccine studies. However, radiography requires expertise and is often inaccessible.

Chitinase 3-like 1 is induced by Plasmodium falciparum malaria and predicts outcome of cerebral malaria and severe malarial anaemia in a case-control study of African children.

Background: Severe and fatal malaria are associated with dysregulated host inflammatory responses to infection. Chitinase 3-like 1 (CHI3L1) is a secreted glycoprotein implicated in regulating immune responses. Expression and function of CHI3L1 in malaria infection were investigated.

Functional roles for C5a and C5aR but not C5L2 in the pathogenesis of human and experimental cerebral malaria.

The host immune response plays an important role in the onset and progression of cerebral malaria (CM). The complement system is an essential component of the innate immune response to malaria, and its activation generates the anaphylatoxin C5a. To test the hypothesis that C5a signaling contributes to the pathogenesis of CM, we investigated a causal role for the C5a receptors C5aR and C5L2 in a mouse model of experimental CM (ECM) induced by Plasmodium berghei ANKA infection, and using a case-control design, we examined levels of C5a in plasma samples from Ugandan children presenting with CM or uncomplicated malaria (UM).

Angiopoietin-2 levels are associated with retinopathy and predict mortality in Malawian children with cerebral malaria: a retrospective case-control study*.

Objective: To investigate the relationship among the angiopoietin-Tie-2 system, retinopathy, and mortality in children with cerebral malaria.

Design: A case-control study of retinopathy-positive vs. retinopathy-negative children with clinically defined cerebral malaria.

Taking the sting out of malaria.

The innate immune response to malaria is a major determinant of disease severity and outcome. In this issue of Immunity, Sharma et al. (2011) provide evidence of a unique DNA sensing pathway that may contribute to immunopathology in plasmodial infections.

Combinations of host biomarkers predict mortality among Ugandan children with severe malaria: a retrospective case-control study.

Background: Severe malaria is a leading cause of childhood mortality in Africa. However, at presentation, it is difficult to predict which children with severe malaria are at greatest risk of death. Dysregulated host inflammatory responses and endothelial activation play central roles in severe malaria pathogenesis.

Caspase-12 dampens the immune response to malaria independently of the inflammasome by targeting NF-kappaB signaling.

Pathogen sensing by the inflammasome activates inflammatory caspases that mediate inflammation and cell death. Caspase-12 antagonizes the inflammasome and NF-κB and is associated with susceptibility to bacterial sepsis. A single-nucleotide polymorphism (T(125)C) in human Casp12 restricts its expression to Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America.

CD36 and TLR interactions in inflammation and phagocytosis: implications for malaria.

CD36 participates in macrophage internalization of a variety of particles, and has been implicated in inflammatory responses to many of these ligands. To what extent CD36 cooperates with other receptors in mediating these processes remains unclear. Because CD36 has been shown to cooperate with TLR2, we investigated the roles and interactions of CD36 and TLRs in inflammation and phagocytosis.

Inflammatory pathways in malaria infection: TLRs share the stage with other components of innate immunity.

Severe forms of malaria infection claim over 1 million lives annually. One aspect of severe malaria pathogenesis is an excessive or dysregulated inflammatory response to infection. With the characterization of Toll-like receptors (TLRs), which initiate inflammation upon detection of microbial products, involvement of TLRs in the host response to malaria has undergone intense investigation.

Molecular diagnostic and surveillance tools for global malaria control.

Malaria is the most devastating parasitic infection in the world, annually causing over 1 million deaths and extensive morbidity. The global burden of malaria has increased over the last several decades, as have rates of imported malaria into non-endemic regions. Rapid and accurate diagnostics are a crucial component of malaria control strategies, and epidemiological surveillance is required to monitor trends in malaria prevalence and antimalarial drug resistance.

Teichoic acid is an essential polymer in Bacillus subtilis that is functionally distinct from teichuronic acid.

Wall teichoic acids are anionic, phosphate-rich polymers linked to the peptidoglycan of gram-positive bacteria. In Bacillus subtilis, the predominant wall teichoic acid types are poly(glycerol phosphate) in strain 168 and poly(ribitol phosphate) in strain W23, and they are synthesized by the tag and tar gene products, respectively. Growing evidence suggests that wall teichoic acids are essential in B.