Background: Sepsis caused by infection remains a major cause of mortality and morbidity among children. Blood culture though gold standard requires lot of time for diagnosis, hence it’s necessary to rely on early diagnostic markers such as blood counts, micro-ESR, CRP, Procalcitonin. The objective of this study is to evaluate the serum levels of CRP, Procalcitonin as reliable and as early marker of sepsis in pediatric patients above neonatal age group.Methods: Children aged above neonatal age group with clinically suspected sepsis as per the definition given by the International Paediatric sepsis Consensus Conference were selected. Patients were classified as those with sirs, sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock. Patients were divided into two groups one with culture proven sepsis and the other with non-culture proven sepsis. All patients had CRP, Procalcitonin levels measured at admission and 24hrs after admission. The primary outcome was to determine reliable marker in differentiating between the culture proven and non-culture proven sepsis, and to determine the early marker of sepsis.Results: Total 104 patients formed the study group, of which 42 belonged to SIRS group, 26 were sepsis, 19 were severe sepsis and 17 were septic shock. A total of 36 cases had culture positive. In present study PCT was found to be more reliable marker of sepsis as the sensitivity and specificity of PCT was more than CRP and AUC for PCT was significantly higher than CRP. PCT was found to be early marker as the AUC for CRP at 24hrs was significantly more than AUC for CRP at admission and there was no statistically significant difference between AUC for PCT at admission and 24 hours after admission.Conclusions: Both CRP and PCT levels have favourable test performance but PCT is more reliable. PCT is earlier to rise compared to CRP.
A 10-year-old boy with no personal or family history of allergic disorders presented with intractable sneezing of 5 days. The sneezing used to be continuous except during sleep and while talking (Fig. 1,Web Video 1). Physical examination and local examination of the nose was normal. Nasal decongestants and oral antihistamines were tried without any benefit. On detailed psychological evaluation, it was found that the child wanted to join an English-medium school as advised by his school teacher, but could not do so because of financial constraint of parents. The child and parents were counseled regarding the nature of symptoms and perpetuating factors. He was prescribed tablet Alprazolam 0.25 mg twice a day for a week. The frequency of sneezing episodes reduced over a week, and the episodes subsided in a month.
Lizard bite is very infrequent in children. Lizards tend to avoid confrontation. Bites are only inflicted when they are manipulated or when they are cornered and feel threatened. Lizard bites may be frightening but most do not cause serious health problems. The wall lizard or gecko, found in most homes, is not poisonous at all. It only checks insect population. A two-year-old boy was brought with history of lizard bite over right hand when he was trying to capture it. The child had experienced excessive sweating and irritability within two hours of bite. He was treated with supportive care. Prazosin hydrochloride was administered in the dose of 30μ/kg as his symptoms mimicked the autonomic storm which is typically seen with scorpion sting envenomation. To the best of our knowledge autonomic storm following lizard bite has not been reported in the Indian literature so far.
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