Children with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection have been consistently described with milder clinical outcomes compared to adults. [1][2][3] Whereas increased rates of severe illness and death have been reported in adults with cancer and concurrent SARS-CoV-2 infection, 4-7 previous studies in pediatric cancers have yielded conflicting results with regards to infection outcomes. [8][9][10][11] Herein, we report the baseline characteristics and clinical outcomes of 31 pediatric oncology patients who were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection at the four pediatric oncology centers in the

Background: Patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) are considered at higher risk of severe COVID-19 infection. However, morbidity and mortality rates are variable among countries. To date, there are no published reports that document outcomes of SCD patients with COVID-19 in Canada. Methods: A web-based registry was implemented in June 2020 capturing outcomes of SCD patients with COVID-19 from March 2020 to April 2022 and comparing them to the general population of Quebec, Canada. Results: After 24 months of the pandemic, 185 SCD patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were included in the registry. Overall, the population was young (median age 12 years old) and had few comorbidities. No deaths were reported. Risk of hospitalization and admission to intensive care unit (ICU) because of COVID-19 was higher in patients with SCD than in the general population (relative risks (RR) 5.15 (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 3.84–6.91), p ˂ 0.001 and 4.56 (95% CI 2.09–9.93) p ˂ 0.001). A history of arterial hypertension or acute chest syndrome in the past 12 months was associated with a higher risk of severe disease (RR = 3.06 (95% CI 1.85–5.06) p = 0.008 and 2.27 (95% CI 1.35–3.83) p = 0.01). Hospitalized patients had lower hemoglobin F than non-hospitalized patients (12% vs. 17%, p = 0.02). For those who had access to vaccination at the time of infection, 25 out of 26 patients were adequately vaccinated and had mild disease. Conclusions: The SCD population is at higher risk of severe disease than the general population. However, we report favorable outcomes as no deaths occurred. Registries will continue to be critical to document the impact of novel COVID-19 specific therapy and vaccines for the SCD population.

Variation of C-reactive protein (CRP) throughout the hospitalization course (blue line). COVID-19 test results are identified in green when positive and red when negative. The day of ALL diagnosis, the day of chemotherapy start (black arrows), the duration of hospitalization (red box), and the duration of symptoms (green box) are indicated. Induction chemotherapy includes methylprednisolone/prednisone (days 1-32), vincristine (days 4, 11, 18, and 25), PEG-asparaginase (day 7), and intrathecal cytarabine (days 1 and 18) CONFLICT OF INTEREST The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Abdominal tumors are one of the most common types of pediatric cancer. Therefore, they should always be included in the differential diagnosis of abdominal masses. Here, we present the case of a child whose initial hypothesis of diagnosis contemplated this possibility. Later, it was demonstrated that the abdominal mass found was secondary to a common parasitosis. A 2-year old, moderately malnourished and pale white boy was referred with a history of a rapidly growing, well-limited, middle abdominal mass. The mass was 10 by 3 cm, hard and poorly movable, apparently involving both abdominal rectus muscles. A complete resection was performed, revealing an abdominal wall abscess, with intense eosinophilic proliferation, secondary to a local and intense reaction to innumerous Ascaris lumbricoides eggs. Extra luminal infestations with Ascaris, that usually form peritoneal granulomas have been previously described. However, neither external trauma nor fistula, that could explain the superficial presence of the eggs, was found. This description reinforces the relevance of infectious diseases within the differential diagnosis of abdominal masses, particularly in areas with high prevalence of parasitic infestations.