During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a new phenomenon manifesting as a multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) which has a similar clinical presentation to Kawasaki disease, toxic shock syndrome and severe sepsis has emerged. Although the number of MIS-C reports is increasing, rare reports in Asia is still available. To our knowledge, this study is the largest series of published MIS-C cases in Iran. We performed a retrospective study of all patients with case definition for MIS-C admitted to the three paediatric hospitals in Iran. All of these hospitals are located within the most active COVID-19 pandemic areas (Tehran, Qom and Mazandaran) in Iran. Demographic characteristics, clinical data, laboratory findings, imaging and echocardiographic findings, treatment and outcomes were collected. Between 7 March and 23 June 2020, 45 children were included in the study. The median age of children was 7 years (range between 10 months and 17 years). Common presenting symptoms include fever (91%), abdominal pain (58%), nausea/vomiting (51%), mucocutaneous rash (53%), conjunctivitis (51%) and hands and feet oedema (40%) with median duration of symptoms prior to presentation of 5 (interquartile range (IQR) 3, 7) days. Fifty-three percent of children showed lymphopaenia. Overall, the majority of cases at admission had markedly elevated inflammatory markers erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (95.5%) and C-reactive protein (CRP) (97%). Ferritin was abnormal in 11 out of 14 tested patients (73%), and it was highly elevated (>500 ng/ml) in 47% of cases. Median fibrinogen level was 210 (IQR 165, 291) mg/dl, D-dimer was 3909 (IQR 848, 4528) ng/ml and troponin was 0.6 (IQR 0.1, 26) ng/ml, respectively. Twenty out of 31 patients (64.5%) had hypoalbuminaemia. In addition, hyponatraemia was found in 64% of cases. Twenty-five patients (56%) presented with cardiac involvement and acute renal failure was observed in 13 cases (29%). Pleural, ascitic, ileitis and pericardial effusions were found in 18%, 11%, 4% and 2% of cases, respectively. In conclusion, this is a first large case series of hospitalised children who met criteria for MIS-C in Iran. There was a wide spectrum of presenting signs and symptoms; evidence of inflammation with abnormal values of CRP, ESR, D-dimer, ferritin and albumin; and multi-organ involvement.

Background: Despite the worldwide spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the epidemiological and clinical patterns of the COVID-19 infection remain largely unclear, particularly among children. In this study, we explored the epidemiological characteristics, clinical patterns, and laboratory and imaging findings of pediatric patients with COVID-19. Materials and Methods: From March 7 to March 30, 2020, there were a total of 35 patients who had confirmed COVID-19 infection by laboratory virus nucleic acid test (RT-PCR) assay with throat swab samples or typical chest CT manifestation compatible with COVID-19, in addition to a history of close contact with suspected or confirmed SARS-CoV-2 in family members. Information recorded included demographic data, medical history, exposure history, underlying comorbidities, symptoms, signs, laboratory findings and radiologic assessments, severity of disease, treatment, and mortality. Results: The median age of the patients was 7.5 years (IQR=4-11; range=4 months to 15 years). A total of 63% were male. Cough was present in 80% of the patients, followed by fever (77%), nausea or vomiting (29%), diarrhea (26%), shortness of breath (29%), headache (20%), and myalgia (14%). Lymphopenia was present in 43% of the patients, thrombocytopenia in 9%, neutopenia in 8%, and leucopenia in 26%. We reported severe pneumonia in 40% of the hospitalized patients and 18 (51%) had underlying diseases. Of 35 patients, 11 had positive RT-PCR results (31%). The chest CT images of 24 patients (69%) suggested COVID-19, while their RT-PCR assays from throat swab samples were negative. Conclusion: This study demonstrates different clinical findings of pediatrics compared to the previous reports of children. Since a high rate of false negative RT-PCR test was observed, early detection of children with COVID-19 infection by CT is conducive to reasonable management and early treatment.

Antimicrobial resistance in carbapenem non-susceptible Acinetobacter baumannii (CNSAb) is a major public health concern globally. This study determined the antibiotic resistance and molecular epidemiology of CNSAb isolates from a referral burn center in Tehran, Iran. Sixty-nine CNSAb isolates were tested for susceptibility to antimicrobial agents using the E test methodology. Multiple locus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA), Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and multiplex PCR were performed. PCR assays tested for ambler classes A, B, and D β-lactamases. Detection of ISAba1, characterization of integrons, and biofilm formation were investigated. Fifty-three (77%) isolates revealed XDR phenotypes. High prevalence of blaOXA-23-like (88%) and blaPER-1 (54%) were detected. ISAba1 was detected upstream of blaADC, blaOXA-23-like and blaOXA51-like genes in, 97, 42, and 26% of isolates, respectively. Thirty-one (45%) isolates were assigned to international clone (IC) variants. MLVA identified 56 distinct types with six clusters and 53 singleton genotypes. Forty previously known MLST sequence types forming 5 clonal complexes were identified. The Class 1 integron (class 1 integrons) gene was identified in 84% of the isolates. The most prevalent (33%) cassette combination was aacA4-catB8-aadA1. The IC variants were predominant in the A. baumannii lineage with the ability to form strong biofilms. The XDR-CNSAb from burned patients in Iran is resistant to various antimicrobials, including tigecycline. This study shows wide genetic diversity in CNSAb. Integrating the new Iranian A. baumannii IC variants into the epidemiologic clonal and susceptibility profile databases can help effective global control measures against the XDR-CNSAb pandemic.

Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii infections are serious challenges for clinicians because of A. baumannii propensity to acquire resistance to a wide spectrum of antimicrobial agents. In this study, 91 A. baumannii isolates from patients in tertiary intensive care units of three university hospitals in the north, central, and south of Iran were selected and tested for susceptibility to 22 antimicrobials; amplified restriction fragment polymorphism and multiplex polymerase chain reaction methods were used to determine genetic relationships and International Clone (IC) of A. baumannii isolates, respectively. Twenty-four genotypes were identified in A. baumannii isolates. About 91.2% of isolates categorized into 4 distinct clusters; one was more heterogeneous and observed across the three locations. A considerable number of the isolates (27.5%) belonged to the novel IC variant, sequence group 7 (SG7), which was geographically widespread in three locations. The drug resistance pattern showed that 14.2%, 20%, and 77% of the A. baumannii isolates were resistant to colistin, tigecycline, and rifampicin, respectively. Nine percent of isolates (8) showed simultaneous resistance to colistin, rifampicin, and tigecycline. Interestingly, all of them were susceptible to ampicillin-sulbactam and/or tobramycin. According to our results, SG7 could be considered as a pan-Iranian clone.

BackgroundEchinococcosis is a zoonotic disease caused by the larval stages of taeniid cestodes of the genus Echinococcus. The two major types of infection in humans are cystic echinococcosis (CE) or hydatidosis and alveolar echinococcosis (AE). It is endemic in some parts of the world, such as the Middle East, with Iran being a part of it. This systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to determine the prevalence of CE and AE echinococcosis and their epidemiological and clinical aspects in Iran.MethodsElectronic databases, including MEDLINE (via PubMed), SCOPUS, Web of Science, SID and Mag Iran (two Persian scientific search engines) were searched from 1 January 1990 to 8 August 2017. The prevalence of CE and AE echinococcosis was estimated using the random effects meta-analysis. Heterogeneity was evaluated by subgroup analysis. Data were analyzed by STATA version 12.ResultsOf the 2051 records identified in the mentioned electronic databases, Seventy-eight articles met our eligibility criteria, with a total of 214124individuals. The meta-analysis was performed on only 37 out of 78 included studies. The pooled prevalence of CE and AE in Iran was 5% [95% confidence interval )CI(: 3-6%] and 2% [95% CI: 0-5%], respectively. Subgroup meta-analysis revealed that the prevalence of CE was significantly higher in North [9%, 95% CI: 4-18%] and West of Iran [6%, 95% CI: 3-11%], patients younger than 40 years of age [7%, 95% CI: 4-12%], villagers and nomads [6%, 95% CI: 2-12%], and studies that used the combination of serological, clinical, and imaging diagnostic methods [7%, 95% CI: 5-9%]. There were no significant differences between the prevalence of CE among low and high-quality studies. Housewives were the most affected group by hydatidosis (n=24/77, 31%), followed by illiterate people (n=11/77, 14%) and farmers (n= 9/77, 12%). Liver [55%, 95% CI: 46-65%] and lung [28%, 95% CI, 22-35%] were the most common sites of cyst formation.ConclusionsGiven to the importance of echinococcosis on human health and domestic animals industry, it is necessary to implement monitoring and control measures in this regard.