| Literature DB >> 31242834 |
Niccolò Riccardi1,2, Gioacchino Andrea Rotulo3, Elio Castagnola4.
Abstract
Opportunistic Infections (OIs) still remain a major cause of morbidity and death in children with either malignant or nonmalignant disease. OIs are defined as those infections occurring due to bacteria, fungi, viruses or commensal organisms that normally inhabit the human body and do not cause a disease in healthy people, but become pathogenic when the body's defense system is impaired. OIs can also be represented by unusually severe infections caused by common pathogens. An OI could present itself at the onset of a primary immunodeficiency syndrome as a life-threatening event. More often, OI is a therapyassociated complication in patients needing immunosuppressive treatment, among long-term hospitalised patients or in children who undergo bone marrow or solid organ transplantation. The aim of the present review is to provide a comprehensive and 'easy to read' text that briefly summarises the currently available knowledge about OIs in order to define when an infection should be considered as opportunistic in pediatrics as a result of an underlying congenital or acquired immune-deficit. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.Entities:
Keywords: Opportunistic infections; children; etiology; immune-deficit; immunocompromised host; malignant; pathogenic.
Mesh:
Substances:
Year: 2019 PMID: 31242834 PMCID: PMC7040525 DOI: 10.2174/1573396315666190617151745
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Curr Pediatr Rev ISSN: 1573-3963
Box 1. Conditions predisposing to OIs
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| Microorganism that normally do not cause disease or |
| common pathogen with an unusual complicated clinical course or |
| recurrence/persistence of same clinical features. |
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| a) Profound neutropenia (>1 week), clinical instability or significant medical co-morbidities. |
| b) Cancer and/or high intensity chemotherapy (eg, induction for acute leukemia or HSCT). |
| c) Diagnosis or clinical suspicion of PID. |
| d) Diagnosis or clinical suspicion of cystic fibrosis. |
| e) Anatomic anomalies or cateterism. |
| f) Prolonged steroideal treatment or immunosuppressive drugs ( |
| g) HIV infection. |
| h) ICU |
Clinical features and pathogens defining the presence of a bacterial OI.
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| Multiple and recurrent infections (≥ 2 or more episodes within 12 months) in patients < 6 years: otitis media, pneumonia, sinusitis, skin-soft tissue. | |
| Recurrent bacteremia. | |
| Disseminated disease, only. | |
| Pulmonary infection. | |
| Reactivation of latent infection. | |
| Bacillus Calmette–Guèrin (a live, attenuated strain of | Disseminated disease. |
Clinical features and pathogens defining the presence of a fungal OI.
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| Severe oropharyngeal candidiasis, esophagitis, candidiasis of trachea and bronchi. Pulmonary candidiasis secondary to tracheobronchial infection is not considered as possible outside some specific neonatal conditions. | |
| Invasive disease only. | |
| Pneumonia or disseminated infections. | |
| Cryptococcosis, extrapulmonary: fungemia, meningitis, osteoarticular, disseminated cutaneous. | |
| Coccidioidomycosis, disseminated or extrapulmonary. | |
| Histoplasmosis, disseminated or extrapulmonary. | |
| Other fungi: [ | Invasive disease. |
Clinical features and pathogens defining the presence of a viral OI.
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| Cytomegalovirus disease onset at age > 1 month: pneumonia (CMV-DNA in bronchoalveolar lavage), colitis, central nervous system disease (CMV in cerebrospinal fluid), liver, retinitis (confirmed by an ophthalmologist), nephritis, myocarditis, pancreatitis other. In all cases, typical histological lesions and histopathological detection of the virus must be present. A positive PCR on tissue specimens is not sufficient for the diagnosis (exceptions are shown in parenthesis). | |
| EBV-induced fulminant infectious mononucleosis with the presence of diffuse lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly and extensive tissue damage – especially liver and bone marrow - encephalitis and haemophagocytic-lympho-histiocytosis, B-cell lymphoma and dysgammaglobulinaemia. | |
| Reactivation | |
| Reactivation/progression | |
| Chronic hepatitis | |
| Herpes simplex: chronic ulcers (orolabial or cutaneous or genital > 1 month duration) or bronchitis, pneumonitis or esophagitis, encephalitis or other visceral involvement (onset at age > 1 month). | |
| VZV [ | Varicella with systemic involvement (onset at age > 1 month): neurologic manifestations (encephalitis, ataxia transverse myelitis), hepatitis, pneumonia, multi-organ failure with disseminated intravascular coagulation. |
| Disseminated disease: hepatitis, hemorrhagic cystitis, persistent gastroenteritis. | |
| Pneumonia, encephalitis. | |
| Pneumonia (with onset at age > 6 months). | |
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| hMPV [ | Pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome. |
| HHV6, HHV7 [ | Pneumonia, encephalitis. |
| HHV8 [ | Kaposi sarcoma. |
| Parvovirus B19 [ | Chronic/persistent pure red cell aplasia. |
| Rotavirus, Norovirus [ | Chronic (>1 month duration) diarrhea. |
| JC virus [ | Progressive multifocal encephalopathy. |
| Molluscum contagiosum virus (poxvirus) [ | Chronic molluscum contagiosus. |
| BK virus [ | Polyomavirus nephropathy (PVAN), hemorrhagic cystitis. |
| HPV [ | Disseminated warts. |
| Enterovirus [ | Chronic encephalitis. |
| West Nile, Usutu, Chikungunya, O’nyong nyong virus [ | Encephalitis. |
Clinical features and pathogens defining the presence of a protozoan OI.
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| Babesia spp [ | Severe disease with anemia, pulmonary and renal involvment; persisting and relapsing disease. |
| Toxoplasma gondii [ | Toxoplasmosis of the central nervous system with onset at age ≥ 1 month. |
| Cryptosporidium [ | Cryptosporidiosis, chronic diarrhea (>1 month duration). |
| Giardia [ | Giardiasis, chronic intestinal diarrhea >1 month duration). |
| Isospora [ | Chronic diarrhea (>1 month duration). |
| Microsporidium [ | Chronic diarrhea (>1 month duration) |
| Leishmania [ | Recurrent, atypical visceral leishmania. |
| Trypanosoma cruzi [ | Reactivation of American trypanosomiasis: Meningoencephalitis, central nervous system mass, myocarditis. |
| Acanthamoeba spp. [ | Meningoencephalitis, granulomatous amoebic encephalitis. |
| Balamuthia mandrillaris [ | Meningoencephalitis, granulomatous amoebic encephalitis. |
| Naegleria fowleri [ | Meningoencephalitis, granulomatous amoebic encephalitis. |
Clinical features and pathogens defining the presence of a helminthic OI.
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| Strongyloides spp [ | Hyperinfection, septic shock with multiorgan system failure. |
| Onchocerca jakutensis [ | Multiple cutaneous nodules. |
| Onchocerca volvulus [ | More severe skin disease then immunocompetent hosts. |
| Taenia crassiceps [ | Cutaneous infection and/or more severe infection. |
Primary immunodeficiency diseases according to the type of immunity defect and related most typical OIs (Adapted from Picard C. et al., Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases Committee Report on Inborn Errors of Immunity. J Clin Immunol. 2018).
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| CVID | ||
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| T- B+ SCID | Pyogenic bacteria, | |
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| NT mycobacteria (disseminated infections), fungi (disseminated infections), HPV (recurrent infections). | |
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| Susceptibility to mycobacteria and | ||
| Aspergillus (invasive) Candida (meningo-encephalitis and/or colitis). | ||
| - |
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| Recurrent bacterial infections due to neutropenia. | |
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| EBV (fulminant infections), bacteria and virus (recurrent respiratory infections). | |
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| Candida spp (chronic mucocutaneous). | |
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| Bacterial and viral infections due to immunosuppressive drugs. | |
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| Encapsulated bacteria (recurrent infections) P. jirovecii (pneumonia), Candida spp. (invasive). | |
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CVID: Common variable immune deficiency; SCID: Severe combined immunodeficiency; NT: non-tuberculosis; IPEX: immunodysregulation polyendocrinopathy enteropathy X-linked; APECED: autoimmune polyendocrinopathy-candidiasis–ectodermal dystrophy/dysplasia; ALPS: autoimmune lymphoprolipherative syndrome.