The incidence of bacteremia at the onset of pediatric febrile neutropenia (FN) at 2 academically linked institutions was 9.84%, and subsequent blood cultures performed for children with persistent FN yielded an incidence of 4.21%. Until the risk factors for new-onset bacteremia in patients being treated for FN can be identified and diagnostic methods can be improved, compliance with national guidelines is recommended.

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In this survey study of institutions across the US, marked variability in evaluation, treatment, and follow-up of adolescents 12 through 18 years of age with mRNA COVID-19 vaccine-associated myopericarditis (VAM) was noted. Only one adolescent with life-threatening complications was reported with no deaths at any of the participating institutions.

BackgroundHemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) describes a clinical presentation of acute kidney injury, microangiopathic hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia. Five to 15% of HUS cases are related to Streptococcus pneumoniae infection, most often meningitis or pneumonia. Despite the introduction of PCV13 and a decrease in invasive pneumococcal disease in children, the incidence of pneumococcal-related HUS (pHUS) cases is rising for unclear reasons. Efforts to determine whether certain serotypes increase the risk of pHUS are often hampered by negative cultures in patients with suspected pneumococcal disease. Direct microbiologic detection methods, such as next-generation sequencing (NGS), may be useful in identifying pHUS cases. We describe four children with pHUS from two institutions that were identified via NGS of cell-free plasma.MethodsFour patients with HUS and negative initial cultures were identified. Blood was sent to Karius (Redwood City, CA) for pathogen detection via plasma NGS. Cell-free DNA was extracted and NGS performed. Human sequences were removed and remaining sequences were aligned to a curated pathogen database including over 1000 organisms. Organisms present above a predefined statistical threshold were reported. For serotyping by NGS, sequences were aligned to a collection of 90 serotype-associated cps alleles.ResultsAll four patients were found be positive for S. pneumoniae at extremely high levels (Table 1). Three out of four samples were identified as serotype 3 by NGS and similar to the same strain (SPN034183). The fourth sample was consistent with serotype 12A and no strain call was made.ConclusionIn this case series, we report on four patients with pHUS identified via plasma NGS. These cases demonstrate the potential of NGS for pathogen detection and quantitation in plasma to assist in identification of culture-negative infections, as well as the potential to identify clusters of disease that would likely otherwise have gone undetected.Table 1:Karius NGS DataPatientImmunizations Up to DateOrganism IDMPM (Molecules/µL)*Serotype18 Months (CNMC)Y S. pneumoniae 1,957,238311 Months (Rady)Y S. pneumoniae 9,122,698326 Months (Rady)Y S. pneumoniae 151,941,20712A42 Months (Rady)N S. pneumoniae 1,435,7483*Median MPM in non-HUS S. pneumoniae positive samples over the last 90 days was 1202 MPMDisclosures S. Venkatasubrahmanyam, Karius, Inc.: Employee, Salary. D. Hong, Karius, Inc.: Employee, Salary.