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SummaryThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of neonatal thymectomy in the functional capacity of the immune system. We selected a group of 23 subjects, who had undergone thymectomy in their first 30 days of life, during an intervention for congenital heart disease. Several parameters of the immune system were evaluated during their first 3 years of life. Lymphocyte populations and subpopulations (including naive, memory and effector subpopulations), T cell receptor (TCR) Vb repertoire, response of T cells following in vitro stimulation by mitogen, quantification of immunoglobulins, TCR excision circles (TRECS) and interleukin (IL)-7 were measured. We found that neonatal thymectomy produces long-term diminution in total lymphocyte counts, especially in naive CD4+ and CD8 + T cells. Additionally, TRECS were decreased, and plasma IL-7 levels increased. A statistically significant negative correlation was found between absolute CD4 + T cells and IL-7 (r = -0·470, P = 0·02). The patients did not suffer more infectious events than healthy control children, but thymectomy in neonates resulted in a significant decrease in T lymphocyte levels and TRECS, consistent with cessation of thymopoiesis. This could produce a compromise in immune function later in life, especially if the patients suffer T cell depletion and need a reconstitution of immune function.

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Influenza is an important cause of hospitalization in young children. The use of influenza vaccine in high-risk children could prevent hospitalizations and cases of influenza-related diseases.

Most studies focusing on respiratory infections in immunocompromised children have been addressed to bacterial etiology. However, respiratory virus infections in this population can also lead to severe disease. The objective of this study is to evaluate the clinical significance of respiratory virus infections in children with cancer or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Retrospective study conducted in a teaching hospital in Madrid. Medical records from children

We describe the clinical characteristics of 209 children younger than 15 years of age with positive pharyngeal cultures for adenovirus. The mean age of the children was 37 +/- 33 months, and the mean peak temperature was 39.2 +/- 0.76 degrees C. On physical examination, tonsillitis was found for 88% of children; 52% of them had exudative tonsillitis. Forty-eight percent of the patients who had a white blood cell count performed had >15,000 leukocytes per mm, and 25% had >20,000 leukocytes per mm. C-reactive protein concentrations were >7 mg/dL for 22.5% of the patients. Adenovirus pharyngeal infections in young children mimic severe bacterial infections.

Early data regarding changing from PCV7 to PCV13 use in the childhood vaccination calendar indicate that reductions in IR of bacteremic pneumonia and meningitis after PCV7 introduction (by reduction of cases by serotypes 1 and 19A) further decreased and there was a reversion of the increase in IR of parapneumonic pneumococcal empyema from 2010-2011, mainly because of reduction in serotype 1 and 19A cases.