Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0009952 (febrile convulsions)
 1,215 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

During the period April 1985 to November 1986 (18 months), 196 children (of age greater than 1 month) admitted to the Children's Emergency Hospital in Khartoum, Sudan, with clinical suspicion of meningitis/meningoencephalitis were followed up prospectively. Bacterial meningitis was diagnosed by culture, direct microscopy and/or antigen-detecting assays (co-agglutination and enzyme immunoassay) in 44 infants (25 Haemophilus influenzae type b, 8 Neisseria meningitidis, 7 Streptococcus pneumoniae, 3 enterobacteria and one mixed infection), aseptic meningitis in 52, cerebral malaria in 4 and febrile convulsions in 96. The majority of cases of bacterial meningitis were boys and 57% of those in whom H. influenzae was the commonest isolate were less than 1 year old. The presenting signs and symptoms are described as well as the transient and permanent short-term sequelae. The total mortality from bacterial meningitis was 19%, permanent neurological sequelae were seen in 26% of survivors. Prospective follow-up, including audiometry, of 35 children 1-2 months after discharge showed that 11% had hemiplegia and 20% had hearing impairment. The potential impact of vaccination against invasive H. influenzae infections is discussed.
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PMID:Endemic bacterial meningitis in Sudanese children: aetiology, clinical findings, treatment and short-term outcome. 169 86

A major activator of antigen presenting cells (APC) is gamma interferon a product of activated T-lymphocytes. CNS is not well studied and represents a unique system with respect to the immune reactions. Neopterin is an indirect marker of gamma interferon deliberation and may give some new information on the role of APC in CNS. Neopterin in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was determined by specific RIA in children who were lumbar punctured to exclude meningitis. Neopterin was found in various concentrations in serum and CSF of all patients (n = 47). Bacterial meningitis (group 3) was diagnosed in 12 and aseptic meningitis in 18 children (group 2). CSF was drawn in 17 children with febrile convulsions (group 1). Elevated serum neopterin in childhood was only reported in children with an atypical PKU, while data on CSF neopterin were published only in a few cases of adults with CNS involvement. The results show that the APC is stimulated rapidly in childhood similar as in adults following severe viral or bacterial infections. Furthermore neopterin in CSF is not only explained by alteration of the blood-brain barrier but also it may reflect local intrathecal response with activation of accessory cells (APC) in the CNS itself. Between the stimulation of the cellular immune system indicated by increased levels of neopterin and the severity of the disease seems to be a positive correlation.
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PMID:[Intrathecal production of neopterin in meningitis in childhood]. 226 5

Neuron-specific enolase (NSE) has recently proved to be a useful marker of neuron damage. We determined NSE levels in the serum and CSF of 117 children with various neurological disorders (43 with febrile convulsion, 25 with seizure disorder, 32 with meningitis, 3 with brain tumor, 2 with Reye syndrome, 3 with congenital CNS malformation and 9 with other disorders). The purpose of this study is to assess the potential usefulness of NSE in diagnosis and prognosis. Twenty CSF and serum samples of children without neurological problem served as a control. The mean values of the NSE levels in the CSF and serum of the control group were 5.00 +/- 1.65 ng/ml and 8.34 +/- 4.40 ng/ml respectively. The peak values were found in cases with brain tumor. A patient died of Reye syndrome didn't show a very high level of NSE in the serum or CSF. However, we found significant differences in NSE levels between the patients with febrile convulsions and those with seizure disorders (non-febrile, abnormal EEG). Most of our patients with febrile convulsions were cases of simple febrile convulsion, and their NSE levesin the CSF and serum were 4.55 +/- 1.00 and 8.06 +/- 3.18 ng/ml. Cases with non-febrile seizure disorders had significantly higher level of NSE in both CSF and serum (P less than 0.05). Patients with purulent meningitis usually had higher levels than those with aseptic meningitis. Our study can be summarized thus: 1. A normal level of NSE does not exclude severe neuron damage.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Studies of neuron-specific enolase levels in serum and cerebrospinal fluid of children with neurological diseases. 234 56

Analysis of cerebrospinal fluid lactic acid levels in 62 patients suspected of having meningitis was performed. Lactic acid was measured enzymatically using lactic acid dehydrogenase with the liberation of NADH. In a control (no meningitis) group, 46 children had a mean cerebrospinal fluid lactic acid level of 14.7 +/- 2.2 mg/dl; 3 with febrile seizure had a mean lactic acid level of 33.5 +/- 0.98 mg/dl. In 9 cases of bacterial meningitis, the mean lactic acid level was 54.8 +/- 16.8 mg/dl. In 3 patients of aseptic meningitis, the mean lactic acid level was 34.5 +/- 1.0 mg/dl. Serial lactate determination was done in three patients and they were well correlated with the clinical response and other cerebrospinal fluid findings. These data suggest that the determination of cerebrospinal fluid lactic acid may be of diagnostic value in differentiating between bacterial and aseptic meningitis.
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PMID:Diagnostic use of cerebrospinal fluid lactic acid levels in meningitis. 658 98

A spring-summer epidemic of echovirus II in New South Wales, Australia, is reported. The symptomatology was found to be age dependent. Neonates and young infants tended to have a severe 'septicaemic' illness. Older infants had a variety of clinical presentations: aseptic meningitis, febrile convulsions, upper respiratory tract infections, and acute enteritis. Children over the age of two in this study uniformly presented with symptoms suggestive of aseptic meningitis--confirmed by cerebrospinal (CSF) cytology in the majority of cases. The clinical presentation of an acute febrile illness in the young child may not allow for distinction between bacterial and viral infection. The importance of the recognition and confirmation of a viral aetiology relates to the subsequent management: i.e. antibiotics may be withheld, hospitalisation may be shortened, and a more favourable prognosis can be made. Certain epidemiological clues and laboratory studies are helpful in suggesting a viral aetiology, but a definitive diagnosis of enteroviral infection may only be readily achieved by virus isolation in tissue culture.
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PMID:A report of a spring-summer outbreak of echovirus II infection. 688 45

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was analysed to determine a lumbar puncture (LP) yield for meningitis in 95 children who presented with their first febrile convulsions between July 1993 and June 1994. There were 52 males and 43 females aged six months to six years with a mean age of 21.9 +/- 13.0 months at presentation. 87(91.6%) had simple febrile convulsions (SFC) while the remaining 8(8.4%) had complex febrile convulsions (CFC). The majority of the subjects presented with a sudden onset of convulsions that were preceded by a day or two history of fever, coryza, cough and respiratory distress while others had their convulsions preceded by fever and passage of bloody stools. The LP yield for meningitis in this series was 6.3%. The CSF analysis revealed six cases of meningitis comprising an eight month old infant with Haemophilus influenzae type B (HIB) meningitis, two partially treated pyogenic meningitis and three aseptic meningitis. All of them had presented with febrile convulsions without signs of meningeal irritation. Excluding aseptic meningitis from this series, a 3.1% LP yield for pyogenic meningitis is significant enough to recommend continued performance of LP in children with first febrile convulsions, especially if under the age of eighteen months.
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PMID:Analysis of the results of routine lumbar puncture after a first febrile convulsion in Hofuf, Al-Hassa, Saudi Arabia. 749 8

Cases of aseptic meningitis associated with measles/mumps/rubella vaccine were sought in thirteen UK health districts following a reported cluster in Nottingham which suggested a risk of 1 in 4000 doses, substantially higher than previous estimates based on cases reported by paediatricians (4 per million). Cases were ascertained by obtaining vaccination records of children with aseptic meningitis diagnosed from cerebrospinal fluid samples submitted to Public Health Laboratories or discharged from hospital with a diagnosis of viral meningitis. Both methods identified vaccination 15-35 days before onset as a significant risk factor and therefore indicative of a causal association. With both, half the aseptic meningitis cases identified in children aged 12-24 months were vaccine-associated with onset 15-35 days after vaccine. The study confirmed that the true risk was substantially higher than suggested by case reports from paediatricians, probably about 1 in 11,000 doses. However, the possibility that the aseptic meningitis induced by vaccination was largely asymptomatic and a chance laboratory finding in children investigated for other clinical conditions, particularly febrile convulsions, could not be excluded. Comparison of national reports of virus-positive mumps meningitis cases before and after the introduction of this vaccine indicated that the risk from wild mumps was about 4-fold higher than from vaccine. Altogether, 28 vaccine-associated cases were identified, all in recipients of vaccines containing the Urabe mumps strain. The absence of cases in recipients of vaccine containing the Jeryl Lynn strain, despite its 14% market share, suggested a higher risk from Urabe vaccine. A prospective adverse event surveillance system using the study methods is currently being established to assess the risk, if any, from the Jeryl Lynn strain which is now the only mumps vaccine used in the UK.
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PMID:Risk of aseptic meningitis after measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine in UK children. 809 18

Neopterin is synthesized mainly by monocytes/macrophages and is considered to be a marker for activation of the cellular immune system. It has been reported that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) neopterin levels are significantly higher in patients with bacterial meningitis than in those with aseptic meningitis or non-pleocytotic CSF. In this study levels of neopterin and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) were measured in children with non-pleocytotic CSF. The CSF neopterin levels were significantly higher in patients with typical febrile convulsions (FCs) (15.0 +/- 4.5 nmol/l) than in those with pyrexia without convulsions (6.5 +/- 2.7 nmol/l) or convulsions without pyrexia, namely, epilepsy (4.8 +/- 2.4 nmol/l). The CSF neopterin/serum neopterin ratio (C/S ratio) was also higher in patients with typical FCs (1.54 +/- 0.83) than in those with pyrexia without convulsions (0.32 +/- 0.18) or convulsions without pyrexia (0.77 +/- 0.28). Patients with prolonged FCs tended to have higher CSF neopterin levels than those with typical FCs. There was also a tendency for CSF IFN-gamma levels to be higher in patients with FCs than in those with pyrexia without convulsions or convulsions without pyrexia. The results of the present study suggest that some immune activation in the central nervous system (CNS) compartment may be related to the mechanisms of FCs.
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PMID:Clinical and immunological significance of neopterin measurement in cerebrospinal fluid in patients with febrile convulsions. 1052 22

A prospective study of 203 children admitted with a first febrile seizure was carried out over 18 months. Aseptic meningitis was diagnosed in nine children (4%). The mean age of the children was 19.9 months and the peak age incidence (88%) was between 6 months and 3 years. Complex seizures were seen in 16 cases (8%). There was a history of perinatal asphyxia in 16 patients (8%), positive family history of epilepsy in 3%, of first degree relatives and a history of febrile seizures in siblings in 13%. Upper respiratory tract infection was the commonest triggering factor, diagnosed in 53% of cases. The third child was the most commonly affected (22%) in the family. There was a lower incidence of both complex febrile seizures and history of seizures in siblings compared to other studies. Lumbar puncture should be considered for all children below the age of 2 years, presenting with a first febrile seizure.
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PMID:Demographic characteristics and risk factors of first febrile seizures: a Jordanian experience. 1084 18

From September 1997 to March 2002, a total of 84 children were admitted to Chang Gung Children's Hospital due to influenza A virus infection. Influenza A virus infection was documented in 61 cases by viral isolation from throat and in 23 cases by serologic studies. The mean age of patients was 43.8 months, ranging from 20 days to 16 years. Forty-one (49%) patients were male. Lower respiratory tract infection (53 of 84 cases) was the most common clinical manifestation, occurring predominantly in children younger than 5 years (49 of 53 cases). The types of lower respiratory tract infection included bronchiolitis/bronchopneumonia in 33 cases, pneumonia in 17, and croup in 3. Central nervous system dysfunction was noted in 26 patients, predominantly in older children (18 of 26 cases). This included encephalopathy in 11 cases, encephalitis in 10, aseptic meningitis in 2, psychosis in 1, febrile convulsions in 1, and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis in 1. Gastrointestinal symptoms were mild in most patients. Diarrhea occurred in 18.4% of the children younger than 5 years, compared with only 8.4% of the older children. By contrast, abdominal pain was more common in older children (16.7%) than in younger children (6.7%). Ten children had leukocytosis (white blood cell > or = 15000 /microL) and 9 of them were younger than 5 years. Eleven children had a C-reactive protein level greater than 100 mg/L and 10 of them were younger than 5 years. The mean duration of fever and hospitalization were 4.6 +/- 2.8 days and 7.4 +/- 5.7 days, respectively. The clinical outcomes were excellent in all but 1 patient who died from intractable pulmonary hemorrhage. The frequency and duration of hospitalization due to influenza A virus is much greater than generally thought in Taiwan, suggesting an urgent need for educational programs to increase awareness of the characteristics and risks for this illness.
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PMID:Clinical characteristics of children with influenza A virus infection requiring hospitalization. 1288 62


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