Standard treatment of vitamin B12 deficiency has not been well established in childhood, the ideal amount of supplemental vitamin B12 is not clear. Vitamin B12 deficiency is classically treated with intramuscular injections. In this study, we aimed to investigate the efficacy of oral therapy in children with vitamin B12 deficiency. Patients with serum cobalamin concentrations <300 pg/mL aged between 6 months to 18 years were included in this prospective study. Children were treated orally either with a combination of multivitamin tablet daily or vitamin B12 ampules. Serum specimens were obtained at the end of first and third months of treatment for vitamin B12 levels. A total of 79 patients were included in the study. The mean pretreatment vitamin B12 level increased from 182±47.6 pg/mL to 482±318 pg/mL after 1 month of treatment in the whole cohort. Comparison of the pretreatment vitamin B12 levels with first and third month posttreatment values showed significant difference (P-value, 0.001 and 0.028, respectively). In this study, oral cyanocobalamin was found effective for the treatment of vitamin B12 deficiency in children.

Aim To present the etiological evaluation results of our acute benign childhood myositis cases. Materials and methods Children, who were referred to pediatric neurology outpatient clinic in Maternity and Children’s Hospital, with difficulty in walking and high creatinine kinase levels were evaluated. Viral and bacterial serological evaluation of children were performed by real-time polymerase chain reaction method. Results Twenty-five children (21 M,4 F) included in the study. The most common complaints were walking difficulty and tenderness, pain on the gastrocnemius muscles. Their creatine kinase levels were between 216 and 8770 IU. Twenty-two children were hospitalized. Analgesic, intravenous fluid, antibiotic and/or antiviral drugs were given. The most common etiologies were influenza A and B. One children was diagnosed as suspected COVID-19 by the symptoms and the findings in thorax computerized tomography but the SARS-CoV-2 PCR and antibody tests were negative. Conclusion School-aged children admitted to hospital with walking difficulty generally after an upper respiratory tract infection with a moderate creatine kinase elevation should remind at first acute benign myositis. Resolution of the complaints in a short time and normalisation of the biochemical markers will prevent unnecessary tests. Endemic and pandemic infections may cause this entity as well.

In this study, both oral and parenteral formulations were shown to be effective in normalizing vitamin B12 levels. We suggest that oral formulations may be considered to be safe as a first line treatment for vitamin B12 deficiency in children.

Objective This study aims to evaluate the demographic, epidemiological, and clinical features of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases aged between 0 and 18 years. Methods The demographic characteristics of the patients, admission symptoms, contact and travel histories, clinical onset duration, symptoms, treatments, laboratory findings, radiological images, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) negation times were evaluated in a retrospective manner. Thirty-eight children (19 boys and 19 girls) were included in the study. Discussion The mean age of the patients was 10.36 ± 5.59 years. The average admission times of the patients after the onset of the symptoms was determined as 1.84 ± 2.02 days. Thirteen (34.2%) patients were observed as asymptomatic. The most common identified symptoms were fever, cough, and fatigue (55.2, 34.2, and 13.2%, respectively). Febrile convulsions, myalgia, dizziness, and diarrhea were the least common symptoms. Also, 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (vitamin D3) levels were low and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) values were higher in the moderate group than the mild group and the relationships were statistically significant (p = 0.044and 0.027). Ferritin levels of the patients with ground glass opacity (GGO) were found statistically and significantly higher than the patients without GGO (p = 0,031). There was more than one lobe and segment involvement in five patients, the average number of affected lobes and segments was 3.8 and 8.8, respectively. High-resolution computed tomography of the 24 patients showed that; GGO in five (20.8%), consolidation + GGO (mixed) in three (12.5%), consolidation (alone) in one, subpleural linear opacities in three (12.5%), and pavement stone opacities in one (4.2%) patient. COVID-19, which is seen less frequently in children, may pose a risk in infants and young children. Conclusion Especially high ferritin levels may present with lung involvement and low vitamin D levels may worsen the aggravation of the lung involvement. There is a great need for further research on this subject.