Context:Life-saving cancer therapy is costly and may result in financial burden for these families. Financial costs for treating childhood cancer care are traditionally assessed based on the amount spent for diagnostic tests, hospitalization, and chemotherapy. The financial costs for travel, accommodation, out-of-pocket expenses for food, phone bills, and loss of income due to reduction or termination of parental employment are hidden nonmedical expenses that are rarely accounted for. Studies on the financial implications of pediatric cancer treatment are based on the Western model of healthcare with good government/state insurance coverage and hence literature on lifestyle implications for families in developing nations with limited resources is still scarce.Aims:The aim of this study is to find out the details of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by the families during their treatment of cancer children and its implications on their quality of life. Settings and Design: This study was conducted in a tertiary care center for pediatric malignancies for over 1-year period.Subjects and Methods:About seventy families whose children were diagnosed with acute leukemia and undergoing treatment at our center were asked to fill a questionnaire detailing their out-of-pocket expenses.Results:Nonmedical expenses accounts for about 46% of their monthly household income of parents from rural areas and 22% of their household income from urban areas. On an average, a family from rural area spends four times the normal amount spent on home for their daily food expenditure. Thirty-eight percent of families have borrowed money from money lenders with an average interest rate of about 12.5% which pushes them to a state of debt for the next few years.Conclusions:Out-of-pocket expenses contribute a significant proportion to the financial burden of the families with childhood malignancies and these invisible expenses should be recognized and provide adequate support to lessen the burden of this economic impact.

Introduction:Childhood malignancy, although a rare phenomenon, is still the leading cause of mortality in the pediatric population. Early diagnosis and treatment are imperative for the achievement of optimal prognosis. The study of factors facilitating the delay in diagnosis is thus of utmost importance, to both shorten the diagnostic delay and allow for early therapeutic intervention, facilitating a higher prognosis.Objective:To assess the referral pattern and the identification of potential delays in the diagnosis of childhood malignancy in a developing country.Methodology:The study was conducted in the Pediatric Hematology and Oncology department of Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai, India. The study included randomly selected 70 pediatric patients diagnosed with a hematological malignancy, from July 2012-August 2013. The parents were interviewed using a prepared questionnaire about patient symptomatology, interaction with healthcare providers, final diagnosis, and referral details. Data were statistically analyzed using Statistica® (STATsoft).Results:70 patients were included in the study (69% boys, 31% girls). The diagnostic delay was primarily due to the delay experienced in the healthcare system, with a mean delay of 26 days (Median: 18; Range: 5-39). Those from a lower socioeconomic background and whom opted for a non-allopathic treatment approach experienced higher diagnostic delays. Diagnostic time was significantly shorter for those who visited a pediatrician versus the patients who visited a general physician or super specialties (P = 0.043).Conclusions:Diagnostic delay is often associated with an extensive disease presentation, an aggressive therapeutic approach, and has a negative impact on patient prognosis. To lower mortality rate and facilitate a favourable prognosis, diagnosis requires a high degree of clinical suspicion and immediate intervention.

Treatment-induced neuropathy (TIN) in diabetes is an acute and painful yet completely reversible small fiber neuropathy precipitated by a rapid improvement in glycemic control. TIN is rare in children. A 16-year-old girl developed symmetrical painful neuropathy of the foot, autonomic neuropathy, and retinopathy 5 weeks after the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. All causative workups were negative except for a drop-in hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) from 17.4% to 7%, which fit with a diagnosis of TIN. Following symptomatic management, her neuropathy and retinopathy completely resolved in 2 months. Currently, she is 18 years old and doing well (HbA1c, 7.4%) without any recurrence of TIN. TIN should be suspected in any child presenting with recent-onset type 1 diabetes and acute onset neuropathy. Our case represents an unreported scenario of the rapid progression in TIN. Awareness among clinicians about this rare but completely reversible condition is necessary to ensure proper management and adherence to glycemic control.

We report a case of Salmonella paratyphi B meningitis in a 90 day-old male infant who was admitted with complaints of fever, vomiting and one episode of vacant stare. Clinically, the infant was found to be toxic and dull with a bulging anterior fontanelle. Subsequently, blood and cerebrospinal fluid cultures demonstrated the presence of Salmonella Paratyphi B organism.

Background: Scrub typhus, a zoonosis caused by bacteria Orientia tsutsugamushi is associated with varying clinical features and significant mortality due to complication in view of ineffective treatment. Objectives: This study was undertaken to identify the factors for predicting severity in scrub typhus. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted at a tertiary care teaching hospital between January 2015 to October 2016. All children younger than 18 years of age admitted with a history of fever for more than seven days and positive IgM ELISA for scrub typhus were included in the study. Cases of "severe scrub typhus" were identified based on criteria from published pediatric studies. A total of 235 patients tested positive for scrub typhus, out of which 39 patients were in the severe scrub group and 196 in the nonsevere group. Reports were analyzed for the predictors of severity of scrub typhus in both groups. Results: Using multivariate analysis, the factors for predicting severity in scrub typhus were hemoglobin < 10 g/L (OR = 2.8, CI = 1.40 to 5.72), platelet < 150 000 cells/mm 3 (OR = 2.54, CI = 1.21 to 5.30), albumin < 2.5 g/d (OR = 3.18, CI = 1.42 to 7.11), SGOT > 5 fold rise (OR = 49.7, CI = 13.49 to 183.17), prolongation of PT (P value = 0.03), and altered sensorium (P value = 0.016) were correlated with severe disease. Conclusions: We conclude that altered sensorium, anemia, thrombocytopenia, elevated transaminases, hypoalbuminemia, and prolongation of prothrombin time to be predictors of severity of illness in scrub typhus.