Pediatric emergency care
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Pediatric emergency care · Sep 2011
Case ReportsAn 8-year-old boy with bilateral lower extremity pain and weakness.
We illustrate a case of an 8-year-old boy presenting acutely with bilateral lower extremity pain and weakness. This case illustrates the presentation and progression of a rare and potentially lethal diagnosis and highlights the use of computed tomography angiography in the setting of a patient with acute onset of pain and pulselessness of the lower extremities.
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Pediatric emergency care · Sep 2011
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyH1N1 hemagglutinin-inhibition seroprevalence in Emergency Department Health Care workers after the first wave of the 2009 influenza pandemic.
The 2009 H1N1 pandemic (H1N1pdm) virus has been associated with high rates of asymptomatic infections. Existing influenza infection control policies do not address potential transmission through exposure to asymptomatic infected individuals in health care settings. We conducted a seroprevalence study of H1N1pdm infection to determine whether health care workers (HCWs) in the emergency department showed increased evidence of infection during the first wave of the pandemic than that previously reported in adults in the community. ⋯ The higher serodetection rates in adults observed in the current study suggest potentially significantly more frequent infections in HCWs than in the general population. Further investigations are needed to ascertain the relative incidence of influenza infections in HCWs and non-HCWs, to study influenza transmission by asymptomatic infected subjects and ascertain the burden of such transmission in health care settings.
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Pediatric emergency care · Sep 2011
Review Case ReportsHyperbilirubinemia: current guidelines and emerging therapies.
It is estimated that about two thirds of newborns will appear clinically jaundiced during their first weeks of life. As newborns and their mothers spend fewer days in the hospital after birth, the number of infants readmitted yearly in the United States for neonatal jaundice over the last 10 years has increased by 160%. A portion of these infants present to the emergency department, requiring a careful history and physical examination assessing them for the risk factors associated with pathologic bilirubin levels. ⋯ Therefore, a little more than a good history, physical examination, and indirect/direct bilirubin levels are needed to evaluate an otherwise well-appearing jaundiced newborn. The American Academy of Pediatrics' 2004 clinical practice guidelines for "Management of Hyperbilirubinemia in the Newborn Infant 35 or More Weeks of Gestation" are a helpful and easily accessible resource when evaluating jaundiced newborns (available at http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;114/1/297). There are several exciting developments on the horizon for the diagnosis and management of hyperbilirubinemia including increasing use of transcutaneous bilirubin measuring devices and medications such as tin mesoporphyrin and intravenous immunoglobulin that may decrease the need for exchange transfusions.