Predictors of Outcome in Pediatric Osteomyelitis: Five Years Experience in a Single Tertiary Center.

Background: Acute haematogenous osteomyelitis is a bacterial infection of bone, which occurs most frequently in children. Outcomes are excellent for the majority of children, but a minority develop complicated osteomyelitis. Predicting which children will develop complicated osteomyelitis remains a challenge, particularly in developed countries where most patients are discharged home after a relatively short period in hospital.

Low-dose oral interferon alpha as prophylaxis against viral respiratory illness: a double-blind, parallel controlled trial during an influenza pandemic year.

Background And Objective: Interferon alpha (IFNα) is a known antiviral agent. A double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted investigating the use of low-dose oral interferon alpha for preventing acute viral respiratory illnesses.

Methods: Two hundred healthy adults aged 18-75 years were enrolled and completed weekly health data questionnaires to monitor for symptoms and impact of respiratory illness.

Effect of early carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae on the development of pneumococcal protein-specific cellular immune responses in infancy.

Background: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between nasopharyngeal pneumococcal colonization in early life and the subsequent development of pneumococcal-specific T cell responses.

Methods: Pernasal swabs were collected from Papua New Guinean infants at the ages of 1 and 2 weeks (n = 279). At 9 months, in vitro cellular immune responses to choline-binding protein A (n = 132), pneumococcal surface protein A (n = 132), pneumolysin (n = 99), and the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine carrier CRM197 were determined.

The effect of passive smoking on the risk of otitis media in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children in the Kalgoorlie-Boulder region of Western Australia.

Objectives: To determine the risk of otitis media (OM) associated with passive smoking in young children, and any competing effect between passive smoking and childcare attendance.

Design, Participants And Setting: Prospective cohort study of 100 Aboriginal and 180 non-Aboriginal children born in Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital between 1 April 1999 and 31 January 2003. These children underwent routine clinical examinations by an ear, nose and throat specialist up to three times before the age of 2 years, and tympanometry at routine field follow-up visits from the age of 4 months.