Special Issue "Childhood Innate Immunity and Infectious Diseases"

A special issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 January 2022.

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Danilo Buonsenso
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Woman and Child Health and Public Health, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli, Rome, Italy;
2. Dipartimento di Scienze Biotecnologiche di Base, Cliniche Intensivologiche e Perioperatorie, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy;
3. Global Health Research Institute, Istituto di Igiene, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
Interests: pediatric infectious diseases; global health; point of care ultrasound applied to infectious diseases

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Despite countless discoveries in medical sciences during the last few decades, several questions still remain unanswered. Unfortunately, the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has opened the pandora’s box and reminded us of how much we still have to learn in several fields, from public health policies to basic science. Among the latter, the immune system is definitely among the protagonists. SARS-CoV-2, initially thought to cause a severe pneumonia (1), is now linked to a more complex systemic disorder where inflammation plays a primary role, causing a cytokine storm (2), endothelial inflammation predisposing to microclots (3), and countless more clinical effects. Not by chance, the majority of treatments studied have specific immune targets, and the most effective treatments so far, according to the higher standard of research, are once again steroids (4).

However, something is complicating the picture even more. Why are children, so far, less affected by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and frequently develop asymptomatic or paucisymptomatic infections? (5) Why is this happening, when millions of children die every year from other infectious diseases, including viruses? Why do some of them develop, weeks after the initial infection, a multisystem inflammatory syndrome? (6)

The immune system definitely hides the answers to these (7).

This pandemic is posing countless challenges for all of us, but it is also giving us the opportunity to learn more and, hopefully, prepare a better future to next generations. As members of the scientific community, we aim to take the chance to learn more, train new generations of healthcare workers, and inspire. This is why we are calling you to contribute to a Special Issue on “Childhood Innate Immunity and Infectious Diseases”, aiming to provide both high-quality reviews and original studies that both educate and inspire the scientific community and the younger generation of healthcare workers and researchers.

We are particularly interested in the following topics:

  • Innate immunity from the newborns to adolescents (reviews and new findings);
  • Innate immunity, BCG, and tuberculosis;
  • Innate immunity and immunizations;
  • Innate immunity and bacterial infections of major pediatric interest;
  • Innate immunity and viral infections of major pediatric interest, including SARS-CoV-2;
  • Childhood microbiota and innate immunity.

Dr. Danilo Buonsenso
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Immune system
  • Microbiota
  • Innate immunity
  • Viral infections
  • Bacterial infections
  • Immunizations

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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Article
Three-Year Trend in Escherichia coli Antimicrobial Resistance among Children’s Urine Cultures in an Italian Metropolitan Area
Children 2021, 8(7), 597; https://doi.org/10.3390/children8070597 - 14 Jul 2021
Viewed by 352
Abstract
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections in children, and Escherichia coli is the main pathogen responsible. Several guidelines, including the recently updated Italian guidelines, recommend amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (AMC) as a first-line antibiotic therapy in children with febrile UTIs. [...] Read more.
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections in children, and Escherichia coli is the main pathogen responsible. Several guidelines, including the recently updated Italian guidelines, recommend amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (AMC) as a first-line antibiotic therapy in children with febrile UTIs. Given the current increasing rates of antibiotic resistance worldwide, this study aimed to investigate the three-year trend in the resistance rate of E. coli isolated from pediatric urine cultures (UCs) in a metropolitan area of northern Italy. We conducted a retrospective review of E. coli-positive, non-repetitive UCs collected in children aged from 1 month to 14 years, regardless of a diagnosis of UTI, catheter colonization, urine contamination, or asymptomatic bacteriuria. During the study period, the rate of resistance to AMC significantly increased from 17.6% to 40.2% (p < 0.001). Ciprofloxacin doubled its resistance rate from 9.1% to 16.3% (p = 0.007). The prevalence of multidrug-resistant E. coli rose from 3.9% to 9.2% (p = 0.015). The rate of resistance to other considered antibiotics remained stable, as did the prevalence of extended spectrum beta-lactamases and extensively resistant E. coli among isolates. These findings call into question the use of AMC as a first-line therapy for pediatric UTIs in our population, despite the indications of recent Italian guidelines. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Childhood Innate Immunity and Infectious Diseases)
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Review

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Review
The Relationship between COVID-19 and Innate Immunity in Children: A Review
Children 2021, 8(4), 266; https://doi.org/10.3390/children8040266 - 30 Mar 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 867
Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the virus responsible for the pandemic viral pneumonia that was first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and has since rapidly spread around the world. The number of COVID-19 cases recorded in pediatric age [...] Read more.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the virus responsible for the pandemic viral pneumonia that was first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and has since rapidly spread around the world. The number of COVID-19 cases recorded in pediatric age is around 1% of the total. The immunological mechanisms that lead to a lower susceptibility or severity of pediatric patients are not entirely clear. At the same time, the immune dysregulation found in those children who developed the multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIC-S) is not yet fully understood. The aim of this review is to analyze the possible influence of children’s innate immune systems, considering the risk of contracting the virus, spreading it, and developing symptomatic disease or complications related to infection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Childhood Innate Immunity and Infectious Diseases)

Other

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Case Report
A Case of Tracheal Stenosis as an Isolated Form of Immunoproliferative Hyper-IgG4 Disease in a 17-Year-Old Girl
Children 2021, 8(7), 589; https://doi.org/10.3390/children8070589 - 12 Jul 2021
Viewed by 365
Abstract
Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a lymphoproliferative disease which is described almost exclusively in adults. There are only a few pediatric patients who have been observed with this disorder. Here, we describe a rare case of IgG4-RD in a 17-year-old girl with a [...] Read more.
Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a lymphoproliferative disease which is described almost exclusively in adults. There are only a few pediatric patients who have been observed with this disorder. Here, we describe a rare case of IgG4-RD in a 17-year-old girl with a single manifestation—tracheal stenosis without previous intubation or other inciting event. She had mixed dyspnea and noisy and weakened breathing. Immunoproliferative hyper-IgG4 disease was diagnosed, based on elevated serum IgG4 and histological findings. Until now we have chosen to treat the girl only with corticosteroids with a good response so far. The general condition as well as the respiratory function are regularly monitored. The tracheal involvement of IgG4-RD is uncommon. Nonetheless, it is a manifestation that should be included in the differential diagnosis of tracheal stenosis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Childhood Innate Immunity and Infectious Diseases)
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