BackgroundInfectious diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) remain common and life-threatening, especially in developing countries. Knowledge of the aetiological agents responsible for these infections is essential to guide empiric therapy and develop a rational public health policy. To date most data has come from patients admitted to tertiary referral hospitals in Asia and there is limited aetiological data at the provincial hospital level where most patients are seen.MethodsWe conducted a prospective Provincial Hospital-based descriptive surveillance study in adults and children at thirteen hospitals in central and southern Viet Nam between August 2007– April 2010. The pathogens of CNS infection were confirmed in CSF and blood samples by using classical microbiology, molecular diagnostics and serology.ResultsWe recruited 1241 patients with clinically suspected infection of the CNS. An aetiological agent was identified in 640/1241 (52%) of the patients. The most common pathogens were Streptococcus suis serotype 2 in patients older than 14 years of age (147/617, 24%) and Japanese encephalitis virus in patients less than 14 years old (142/624, 23%). Mycobacterium tuberculosis was confirmed in 34/617 (6%) adult patients and 11/624 (2%) paediatric patients. The acute case fatality rate (CFR) during hospital admission was 73/617 (12%) in adults and to 42/624 (7%) in children.ConclusionsZoonotic bacterial and viral pathogens are the most common causes of CNS infection in adults and children in Viet Nam.

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Background: Acute leukemia is the most common malignant disease in children. Some genetic abnormalities have been recognized to have prognostic or therapeutic relevance. Objective: To analyze the clinical presentations, laboratory features, and genetic abnormalities in childhood acute leukemia patients. Materials and methods: It was a descriptive cross-sectional study on childhood acute leukemia patients who admitted to the hospital between November, 2017 and May-2022. Results: There were 83 new patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) (70.3%) and 35 patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) (29.7%), the ratio of male to female was 1.51:1. The median age was 5.8 ± 4.0 years. The most common symptoms were anemia (87.3%), hepatomegaly (48.3%), enlarged lymph nodes (44.9%), fever (44.9%), splenomegaly (41.5%), bleeding (39.8%) and bone pain (21.2%). Regarding laboratory features, white blood cell (WBC) median is 12.3x109/l, there is 28.8% of the patients with WBC ≥ 50x109/l. Platelet (PLT) median is 43,5x109/l, there is 75.4% patients with PLT <100x109/l. Hemoglobin (Hb) mean is 8.0 ± 2.3 g/dl, there is 78.9% patients with Hb < 10 g/dl. In ALL, genetic analysis showed that 18.1% patients have NUDT15 polymorphism, 6.9% patients have TPMT polymorphism, 12.1% patients have TEL/AML1, 4.8% patients with BCR/ABL1, 2.4% patients with MLL/AF4, 3.6% patients with E2A/PBX1 and 1.2% patient with SET/NUP214. In AML, the percentage of AML1/ETO, AML1/ETO+BCR/ABL1, PML/RARA, MLL/AF6 and KMT2A/MLLT10 were 14.2%, 2,9%, 8.6%, 5.7% and 2.9% respectively. Conclusions: The most common clinical presentations were anemia, hepatosplenomegaly, fever, enlarged lymph nodes, bleeding and bone pain. Some genetic abnormalities help classification, prognosis and treatment for childhood acute leukemia. Key words: Acute leukemia, children, genetic abnormalities.

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between the concentration of urinary soluble urokinase plasminogen activator (suPAR) pretreatment with the treatment responsiveness in children with primary nephrotic syndrome. Methods: Longitudinal follow-up study. Results: A study of 30 children diagnosed with the initial nephrotic syndrome was followed up at Hue Pediatric Center of Hue Central Hospital and Pediatrics Departement of Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital. Urinary suPAR/creatinine ratio was 2712 ± 2217 pg/mg (605 - 11443 pg/mg), urinary suPAR/creatinine ratio in children 1-6 years old was significantly higher than that in group 7-15 years old, there was no signifficant difference about urinary suPAR between hematuria and non-hematuria group. Urinary suPAR/creatinine ratio was not significantly associated with serum albumin, glomerular filtration rate and proteinuria. After 2 months of steroid treatment, 100% patients was completely remission. Following- up 28 patients after 6 months of steroid treatment: the rate of completely remission, infrequent relapse and frequent relapse were 67.8%, 25% and 7.2% respectively, there was no signifficant difference about urinary suPAR/creatinine ratio among three groups. Conclusions: Pre-treatment urinary suPAR/creatinine ratio do not help predict the ability of steroid responsiveness in the early period of treatment. More research is needed to understand more the role of urinary suPAR in pediatric nephrotic syndrome. Key words: soluble urokinase plasminogen activator, urinary suPAR, childhood nephrotic syndrome