National case series of group A streptococcus pleural empyema in children: clinical and microbiological features

Group A Streptococcal Meningitis With the M1UK Variant in the Netherlands

“…A rare but severe invasive group A streptococcal infection is meningitis, which has an estimated incidence in adults of 0.2 per 1 million individuals per year . In several European countries and the US, an increase of invasive group A streptococcal infections has been observed since September 2022, with shifts in affected age groups and clinical presentations relative to historic observations . We performed an epidemiological assessment of S pyogenes meningitis cases in the Netherlands, defined by culture-positive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), using more than 40 years of national bacteriological surveillance data.…”

“…1,2 In several European countries and the US, an increase of invasive group A streptococcal infections has been observed since September 2022, with shifts in affected age groups and clinical presentations relative to historic observations. 3,4 We performed an epidemiological assessment of S pyogenes meningitis cases in the Netherlands, defined by culture-positive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), using more than 40 years of national bacteriological surveillance data.Methods | Active microbiological surveillance and molecular epidemiology of all-cause bacterial meningitis, including S pyogenes, is performed by the Netherlands Reference Laboratory for Bacterial Meningitis (NRLBM). We analyzed S pyogenes isolates cultured from CSF between January 1, 1982, and March 13, 2023.…”

“…1 The Drug Addiction Treatment Act (DATA) of 2000 created a pathway for clinicians to obtain waivers ("DATA waivers") to simultaneously treat up to 30, 100, or 275 patients with OUD outside of an opioid treatment program, provided the clinicians met certification and training requirements. Policies in 2021 reduced 2 waiver requirements and in 2023 removed waiver requirements, 3 leading to expectations of increased OUD treatment. It is important to understand historical clinician prescribing patterns prior to these policy changes to track the specific effects going forward.…”

The clinical impact of serious respiratory disease in children under the age of two during the 2021-2022 bronchiolitis season in the United Kingdom and Ireland

“…Our study does not include primary care prescription data, so our estimate relates solely to the antibiotic burden for RSV infection in admitted children. Another limitation is that we did not recruit children with suspected bacterial infection (sepsis, empyema) that may have developed secondary to RSV infection 31,32 , and thus we may have underestimated the burden of infection in this cohort. As the BronchStart study recruited patients following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, the percentage of cases positive for RSV, and the treatment burden, may not be representative of a typical year once RSV seasonality starts to resume normal seasonal patterns.…”

Group A streptococcal meningitis with the M1UKvariant in the Netherlands

“…A rare but severe disease manifestation of iGAS is meningitis, which has an estimated incidence in adults of 0.2 per 1,000,000 persons per year 1,2 . Several European countries as well as the United States have observed an increase of iGAS infections in the past months, with shifts in affected age groups and clinical presentations relative to historic observations 3,4 . Here we performed an epidemiological assessment of S. pyogenes meningitis cases, defined by culture-positive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), using over 40 years of national bacteriological surveillance data.…”