Human parvovirus B19 infection is occasionally associated with acute lymphocytic myocarditis (ALM). Three infants with B19 virus-associated ALM were followed up clinically, histologically, and immunovirologically. Each infant had B19 virus DNA in the blood or B19 virus-specific IgM antibodies. Two infants with postnatal infection recovered after immunosuppressive therapy. The third infant with possible prenatal infection developed chronic persistent myocarditis associated with persistent B19 virus DNA in the blood. All 3 infants had increased levels of interferon-gamma, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and interleukins -6 and -8. Four newborns with congenital B19 virus infection and 4 infants and children who had postnatally acquired B19 virus infection without myocarditis all had normal levels of these cytokines. These observations suggest that B19 virus infection in infancy causes ALM in some infants and children.

Objectives: To perform a comprehensive clinic, laboratory, and instrumental evaluation of children affected by coronavirus disease .Methods: Children with a positive result of nasopharyngeal swab for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) underwent laboratory tests, anal and conjunctival swab, electrocardiography, lung, abdomen, and cardiac ultrasound.Twenty-four-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring was performed if abnormal basal blood pressure. Patients were followed-up for 6 months.Results: Three hundred and sixteen children were evaluated; 15 were finally included. Confirmed family member SARS-CoV-2 infection was present in all.Twenty-seven percent were asymptomatic. Anal and conjunctival swabs tests resulted negative in all. Patients with lower body mass index (BMI) presented significantly higher viral loads. Main laboratory abnormalities were: lactate dehydrogenase increasing (73%), low vitamin D levels (87%), hematuria (33%), proteinuria (26%), renal hyperfiltration (33%), and hypofiltration (13%). Two of the patients with hyperfiltration exhibited high blood pressure levels at diagnosis, and persistence of prehypertension at 6-month follow-up. No abnormalities were seen at ultrasound, excepting for one patient who exhibited B-lines at lung sonography.Immunoglobulin G seroconversion was observed in all at 1-month.Conclusions: Our study confirm that intra-family transmission is important. The significant higher viral loads recorded among patients with lower BMI, together with low vitamin D levels, support the impact of nutritional status on immune system.Renal involvement is frequent even among children with mild COVID-19, therefore prompt evaluation and identification of patients with reduced renal function reserve would allow a better stratification and management of patients. Seroconversion occurs also in asymptomatic children, with no differences in antibodies titer according to age, sex and clinical manifestations.

This cohort study examines whether the use of surgical face masks among children was associated with changes in respiratory function or signs of respiratory distress.

Our preliminary experience demonstrates the feasibility to visualize the fetal heart with routine fetal MRI protocols in particular, by means of acquisition of TrueFISP imaging (morphological study) and real-time cine-MRI (dynamic study), potentially making MRI a second-level tool to add to fetal echocardiography in the prenatal study of congenital cardiac malformations.