Physicians are currently finding products for pediatric respiratory diseases of viral etiology to reduce the inappropriate use of antibiotic therapy. This study evaluated PediaFlù (Pediatrica S.r.l.), a dietary supplement already on the market composed of honey, propolis, Pelargonium sidoides extract, and zinc (DSHPP), in children affected by acute tonsillopharyngitis (ATR). The open-label, randomized, and controlled study compared DSHPP + standard of care (SoC) versus SoC alone for six days. Children between 3 and 10 years with an ATR ≤ 48 h, a negative rapid test for beta-hemolytic Streptococcus, or a culture identification of nasal and/or pharyngeal exudates were included. A tonsillitis severity score (TSS) and the number of treatment failures (using ibuprofen or high-dose paracetamol as rescue medication) were the primary endpoints. DSHPP+ SoC showed better performance than SoC alone for TSS sub-scores: throat pain and erythema on day 6 (p < 0.001 and p < 0.05), swallowing (p < 0.01 on day 4), and TSS total score on days 4 and 6 (p < 0.05 and p < 0.001). Only one patient (SoC group) had treatment failure for ibuprofen administration. No adverse events were reported. DSHPP is an optimal adjuvant in the treatment of URTI and could potentially be useful in the daily clinical practice of paediatricians evaluating the correct antibiotic prescription.

Since October 2022, alerts have spread from several countries about the increase in invasive group A streptococcal (iGAS) and scarlet fever cases affecting young children. We aim to analyze the epidemiology of GAS infections in the last 12 years in our hospital and identify the clinical features of invasive cases observed in 2023. We conducted a retrospective study enrolling children and adolescents hospitalized at our pediatric clinic from January to December 2023 for a definitive diagnosis of iGAS infection. Clinical, laboratory, and imaging data were collected and analyzed. Comparing 2016 and 2023, we observed a similar number of GAS infections (65 vs. 60 cases). Five children with iGAS infection were hospitalized between March and April 2023. The median age was five years. At admission, all patients showed tachycardia disproportionate to their body temperature. Vomiting was a recurrent symptom (80%). Laboratory tests mostly showed lymphopenia, hyponatremia, and high inflammatory markers. The number of pediatric iGAS cases significantly increased in 2023. Clinical (pre-school-aged children with high fever, unexplained tachycardia, and vomiting) and laboratory parameters (high procalcitonin levels, hyponatremia, and lymphopenia) could help identify and suspect a potential iGAS infection.

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OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the cause of acute pharyngitis and determine the duration of severe and moderate symptoms based on the aetiology.
METHODS: Prospective observational study. SITE: One urban health care centre.
METHODS: Patients aged 15 or older with acute pharyngitis were included.
METHODS: Bacterial identification was carried out in the microbiology lab using MALDI-TOF in two throat samples. Patients received a symptom diary to return after one week.
METHODS: Number of days with severe symptoms, scoring 5 or more in any of the symptoms included in the symptom diary, and moderate symptoms, scoring 3 or more.
RESULTS: Among the 149 patients recruited, beta-haemolytic streptococcus group A (GABHS) was the most common aetiology. Symptoms and signs alone as well as the mean Centor score cannot distinguish between GABHS and other bacterial causes in patients with acute pharyngitis. However, there was a trend indicating that infections caused by Streptococcus dysgalactiae and Streptococcus agalactiae presented more severe symptoms, whereas infections attributed to the Streptococcus anginosus group, Fusobacterium spp., and those where oropharyngeal microbiota was isolated tended to have milder symptoms. S. dysgalactiae infections showed a trend towards longer severe and moderate symptom duration.
CONCLUSIONS: GABHS was the most prevalent, but group C streptococcus caused more severe and prolonged symptoms.

The purpose of this review is to summarize the current evidence regarding the management of streptococcal pharyngitis in children. This article aims to provide a valid support to discriminate streptococcal pharyngitis from viral cases and treat it appropriately to avoid the development of complications. Differential diagnosis based only on clinical features is not always easy. For this reason, different clinical scores were created to provide an accurate diagnosis. Microbiological tests are valuable tools as well, but their use is not recommended unanimously. Concerning treatment, all guidelines agree on the drug to be used. However, doubts remain about the optimal duration of antibiotic therapy, especially in this specific historical moment as we are experiencing a peak in streptococcal infections. [Pediatr Ann. 2024;53(6):e234-e238.].

BACKGROUND: A dietary supplement containing Pelargonium sidoides extract, propolis, zinc, and honey has been recently developed and proven to be an effective adjuvant in clinical practice for seasonal diseases and the treatment of respiratory tract disorders.
OBJECTIVE: This trial aims to verify the efficacy of the tested dietary supplement in a pediatric population with acute tonsillopharyngitis/rhinopharyngitis (ATR).
METHODS: The trial includes children aged between 3 and 10 years with ATR ≤48 h, a negative rapid test for beta-hemolytic streptococcus or culture identification of nasal and/or pharyngeal exudates, and SARS-CoV-2 infection. The dietary supplement tested is an oral solution already on the market based on Pelagon P-70 (equivalent to Pelargonium sidoides d.e. 133.3 mg/100 ml), propolis, zinc, and honey. The product is administered at 5 ml 3 times a day for 6 days for children younger than 6 years and 10 ml 3 times a day for 6 days for children older than 6 years. The study design is open label, randomized, and controlled, with the tested dietary supplement plus standard of care (SoC) versus SoC alone. Patients are enrolled from 3 sites in Romania. The change in Tonsillitis Severity Score and number of treatment failures (using ibuprofen or high-dose paracetamol as rescue medication) are the primary end points. Based on the Tonsillitis Severity Score and the 2-sample comparison of the means formula with a 5% significance level, 80% power, and a minimally clinically important difference of 2 (SD 3.85) points, 120 patients are required. To account for potential screening failures and dropouts, we need to screen a population of approximately 150 children.
RESULTS: Patient enrollment began on June 3, 2021 (first patient\'s first visit), and ended on August 12, 2021 (last patient\'s last visit). The data collection period was from June 3, 2021, to September 16, 2021. The study was funded in February 2023. Data analysis is currently ongoing (April 2024). We expect the results to be published in a peer-reviewed clinical journal in the third quarter of 2024 and presented at scientific meetings in the last quarter of 2024.
CONCLUSIONS: The data from this trial may help identify new adjuvant treatments for children with ATR when streptococcal infection is excluded by a negative rapid test, thereby avoiding unnecessary antibiotic administration.
BACKGROUND: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04899401 https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04899401.
UNASSIGNED: DERR1-10.2196/53703.

The results of a prospective open cohort study of the use of platelet-rich plasma (platelet-rich plasma - PRP) in patients with chronic pharyngitis during the exacerbation of the disease are presented.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of autologous PRP in the treatment of chronic pharyngitis.
METHODS: Autologous PRP was injected into the posterior pharyngeal wall as a course of endopharyngeal blockages as part of the complex therapy of chronic pharyngitis. Patients in the control group received standard therapy, without the use of autologous PRP. The effectiveness of the studied technique was evaluated by statistical analysis of the intensity of symptoms of the disease, determined by patients throughout the entire period of treatment in the patient\'s diary, as well as by analyzing data from mass spectrometry of microbial markers and bacteriological examination of the pharyngeal mucosa, collected at the beginning of the study and 14 days after completion of the course of therapy.
CONCLUSIONS: The use of a course of endopharyngeal blockades with autologous platelet-rich plasma as part of the complex therapy of chronic pharyngitis, according to our estimates, provides a significant effect in the form of higher rates of reduction in the severity of symptoms of the disease, a significant reduction in the number of microorganisms deviating from the reference values (by 2 times or more), a decrease in the duration of the disease compared with the control group.
Представлены результаты проспективного открытого когортного исследования применения обогащенной тромбоцитами плазмы (platelet-rich plasma — PRP) у пациентов с хроническим фарингитом в период обострения заболевания.
UNASSIGNED: Оценить клиническую эффективность применения аутологичной PRP при лечении хронического фарингита.
UNASSIGNED: Аутологичную PRP вводили в заднюю стенку глотки в виде курса эндофарингеальных блокад в составе комплексной терапии хронического фарингита. Пациенты контрольной группы получали стандартную терапию, без применения аутологичной PRP. Оценка эффективности изучаемой методики проведена путем статистического анализа интенсивности симптомов заболевания, определяемой больными на протяжении всего периода лечения в дневнике пациента, а также посредством анализа данных масс-спектрометрии микробных маркеров и бактериологического исследования отделяемого слизистой оболочки глотки, собранного в начале исследования и спустя 14 дней после завершения курса терапии.
UNASSIGNED: Использование курса эндофарингеальных блокад с аутологичной плазмой, обогащенной тромбоцитами, в составе комплексной терапии хронического фарингита, по нашим оценкам, обеспечивает значимый эффект в виде более высоких темпов уменьшения выраженности симптомов заболевания, существенного уменьшения количества микроорганизмов, отклоняющегося от референсных значений (в 2 раза и более), уменьшения длительности заболевания по сравнению с группой контроля.

Group A Streptococcus (GAS) presents a significant global health burden due to its diverse clinical manifestations ranging from mild infections to life-threatening invasive diseases. While historically stable, the incidence of GAS infections declined during the COVID-19 pandemic but resurged following the relaxation of preventive measures. Despite general responsiveness to β-lactam antibiotics, there remains an urgent need for a GAS vaccine due to its substantial global disease burden, particularly in low-resource settings. Vaccine development faces numerous challenges, including the extensive strain diversity, the lack of suitable animal models for testing, potential autoimmune complications, and the need for global distribution, while addressing socioeconomic disparities in vaccine access. Several vaccine candidates are in various stages of development, offering hope for effective prevention strategies in the future.

Streptococcus pyogenes (Group A Streptococcus; GAS) is a Gram-positive bacterium responsible for substantial human mortality and morbidity. Conventional diagnosis of GAS pharyngitis relies on throat swab culture, a low-throughput, slow, and relatively invasive \'gold standard\'. While molecular approaches are becoming increasingly utilized, the potential of saliva as a diagnostic fluid for GAS infection remains largely unexplored. Here, we present a novel, high-throughput, sensitive, and robust speB qPCR assay that reliably detects GAS in saliva using innovative 3base™ technology (Genetic Signatures Limited, Sydney, Australia). The assay has been validated on baseline, acute, and convalescent saliva samples generated from the Controlled Human Infection for Vaccination Against Streptococcus (CHIVAS-M75) trial, in which healthy adult participants were challenged with emm75 GAS. In these well-defined samples, our high-throughput assay outperforms throat culture and conventional qPCR in saliva respectively, affirming the utility of the 3base™ platform, demonstrating the feasibility of saliva as a diagnostic biofluid, and paving the way for the development of novel non-invasive approaches for the detection of GAS and other oropharyngeal pathogens.

OBJECTIVE: The objective was to estimate the probability that finding a Streptococcus pyogenes (Group A Streptococcus) in a throat swab in a patient with a sore throat reflects the aetiology. We also investigated to what extent this is influenced by age, carrier rates of S. pyogenes and climate zone.
METHODS: We conducted a comprehensive search of Medline and Scopus up until October 2023 for case-control studies reporting the prevalence of S. pyogenes in patients with a sore throat and healthy controls. We only included studies with separate data for children and adults. We used the positive and negative etiologic predictive values (P-EPV and N-EPV) to estimate the probability of a link between a sore throat and a finding of S. pyogenes.
RESULTS: We included 15 studies in our meta-analysis. The overall P-EPV for children and adults were 63% (49-74%) and 92% (87-95%), respectively. The P-EPV rose to 83% (64-93%) for children and 94% (90-97%) for adults when only patients with 3-4 Centor criteria were included. The overall N-EPV was 97% (96-98%) for children and 96% (95-97%) for adults.
CONCLUSIONS: Detecting S. pyogenes in adult patients with an uncomplicated acute sore throat is useful to rule in S. pyogenes as the likely aetiologic agent. The P-EPV significantly increased for children when those with 3-4 Centor criteria were selected. A negative throat swab is always useful for both children and adults to rule out S. pyogenes as the cause of sore throat.