Background Of all blood stream infections (BSI), candidaemia poses the greatest threat with a high fatality rate among children. There has been an increase in the number of reports of non- C. albicans species and antifungal resistance has progressively emerge. Aim The present study aimed to demonstrate the prevalence of candidaemia among children and to characterize the involved species and their susceptibility to antifungal agents. Methodology Microbes were isolated from blood samples and identified via standard microbiological procedures. Chromogenic media was used to characterize the Candida species. The susceptibility of the isolates to the antifungal agents; caspofungin, amphotericin, itraconazole, and fluconazole was determined with the E-test. Statistical methods The data were analysed with Statistical Package for the Social Science SPSS; SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) version 15 for Microsoft Windows. Comparisons between the study groups were performed using the Chi square (χ 2 ) test. p -values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results Candidaemia accounted for 17.3% of all BSIs. C. albicans and non- C. albicans species accounted for 36% and 64% of the cases of candidaemia, respectively. Caspofungin, amphotericin, itraconazole, and fluconazole antifungals had activities of 99%, 97%, 73% and 64%, respectively. In total, 64% of patients with candiaemia died. Conclusion The prevalence of candidaemia was high, the fatality rate was alarming and non- C. albicans species were predominant. Fluconazole was the least effective of the tested antifungal agents owing to the high level of resistance.

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Introduction: Acute lower respiratory tract infection in children causes significant morbidity in the developing countries. Documentation of virus infection using PCR and clinical characteristics of patients affected with viral pneumonia are reviewed in this study. Methods: 51 children less than three years admitted to the Pediatric Hospital, Cairo University with viral pneumonia were included. All patients had undergone nasopharyngeal aspirate for PCR viral detection. Results: A total of 51 cases were enrolled in the study, of which 7 cases were negative while 44 children were positive for viruses. The most common respiratory virus was Rhinovirus in 32 patients (72.2%), then parainfluenza virus (PIV) in 12 (27.3%), of which subtypes PIV1 were 2 (4.5%), PIV3 were 5 (11.4%) and PIV4 were 5 (11.4%) cases. The third common viruses were respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in 9 (20.5%) cases of which 3 (6.8%) were RSVA and 6 (13.6%) were RSVB and adenovirus in 9 cases (20.5%). Boca virus was found in 8 (18.2%) patients, corona virus 2 (4.5%) patients, H1N1 2 (4.5%) patients, enterovirus 2 patients (4.5%) and human metapneumovirus in one case (2.3%). Influenza B and PIV2 were not detected. Coinfection was found in 28 (63.7%). Mortality occurred in 12 (23.5%). There was no significant relation between virus type or coinfection with disease severity. Conclusions: RV was the most commonly detected virus in children under 3 years admitted with acute lower respiratory tract infections. Coinfection was present in the majority of our patients; however it was not related significantly to parameters of disease severity.

Background: Evaluating gender-specific effects of COVID-19 is important to develop effective therapeutic strategies. The aim of this study was to explore gender difference in perceived symptoms and laboratory investigations in suspected and confirmed cases. Methods: This is a retrospective study that included data from suspected COVID-19 patients during the first wave of the pandemic. Participants using the phone triaging system at Kasralainy outpatient clinics were included. The analyzed data included patient history and results of nasopharyngeal swab and laboratory data. Results: Out of 440 COVID-19 suspected cases, 56.36% were females. The perceived COVID-19 symptoms showed no significant gender difference in suspected cases while in confirmed cases females were 4 times more likely to complain of cough [OR (95% CI) 3.92 (1.316–11.68), P-value .014] and 5 times more likely to experience loss of smell or taste [OR (95% CI) 4.84 (1.62–14.43), P-value .005]. Laboratory markers revealed high levels of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, blood urea, serum creatinine, creatine kinase, and serum ferritin in males and this was statistically significant ( P-value <.001) in suspected and confirmed cases. Females confirmed with COVID-19 were 80%, 97%, and 97% less likely to have high levels of ALT, creatin kinase, and serum ferritin [OR (95% CI) 0.20 (0.07–0.54), 0.07 (0.01–0.38), and 0.07 (0.01–0.90), P-value .002, .002, and .041, respectively]. Conclusion: Gender differences were found in laboratory markers in COVID-19 suspected and confirmed cases and in perceived symptoms in confirmed cases.

Adenoids act as a bacterial reservoir secondary to bacterial biofilm formation so could induce chronicity and initiate development of complications. Determination of BFC using the proposed protocol is feasible, inexpensive, and available and spares the need for sophisticated instruments or approaches.