Special Issue "Pediatric Viral Infection Long-Term Consequences"

A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Viruses".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 September 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Emma Mohr
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
Interests: prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of congenital viral infections
Dr. Regina Rowe
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA
Interests: pediatric infectious diseases; respiratory virus infections; antiviral immune responses

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Viral infections in childhood can result in deleterious sequelae for months or years following resolution of acute infection. Post-viral sequelae include developmental deficits following congenital viral infections, asthma following respiratory virus infections, immune suppression due to measles virus and multisystem inflammatory syndrome associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. We have a poor understanding of the pathogenesis underlying post-viral sequelae. Both basic and clinical research are required to fill this knowledge gap.

In this Special Issue of Viruses, we want to explore advances in our understanding of the long-term consequences of pediatric viral infections: How do viral infections impact the functional outcomes of children? What viral and host-specific mechanisms underlie the development of these long-term sequelae? What interventions are being developed to ameliorate adverse long-term consequences?

We seek all types of manuscripts (e.g., reviews, research articles, and short communications) that further the discussion of pediatric viral infection long-term consequences.

Dr. Emma Mohr
Dr. Regina Rowe
Guest Editors

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. Viruses 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 2200 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

  • pediatric viral infection
  • long-term consequences
  • post-viral sequelae

Published Papers (3 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Article
Neurodevelopment in Children Exposed to Zika Virus: What Are the Consequences for Children Who Do Not Present with Microcephaly at Birth?
Viruses 2021, 13(8), 1427; https://doi.org/10.3390/v13081427 - 22 Jul 2021
Viewed by 565
Abstract
The relation of Zika virus (ZIKV) with microcephaly is well established. However, knowledge is lacking on later developmental outcomes in children with evidence of maternal ZIKV infection during pregnancy born without microcephaly. The objective of this analysis is to investigate the impact of [...] Read more.
The relation of Zika virus (ZIKV) with microcephaly is well established. However, knowledge is lacking on later developmental outcomes in children with evidence of maternal ZIKV infection during pregnancy born without microcephaly. The objective of this analysis is to investigate the impact of prenatal exposure to ZIKV on neuropsychomotor development in children without microcephaly. We evaluated 274 children including 235 ZIKV exposed and 39 controls using the Bayley-III Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (BSIDIII) and neurological examination. We observed a difference in cognition with a borderline p-value (p = 0.052): 9.4% of exposed children and none of the unexposed control group had mild to moderate delays. The prevalence of delays in the language and motor domains did not differ significantly between ZIKV-exposed and unexposed children (language: 12.3% versus 12.8%; motor: 4.7% versus 2.6%). Notably, neurological examination results were predictive of neurodevelopmental delays in the BSIDIII assessments for exposed children: 46.7% of children with abnormalities on clinical neurological examination presented with delay in contrast to 17.8% among exposed children without apparent neurological abnormalities (p = 0.001). Overall, our findings suggest that relative to their unexposed peers, ZIKV-exposed children without microcephaly are not at considerably increased risk of neurodevelopmental impairment in the first 42 months of life, although a small group of children demonstrated higher frequencies of cognitive delay. It is important to highlight that in the group of exposed children, an abnormal neuroclinical examination may be a predictor of developmental delay. The article contributes to practical guidance and advances our knowledge about congenital Zika. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pediatric Viral Infection Long-Term Consequences)
Article
An Examination of the Long-Term Neurodevelopmental Impact of Prenatal Zika Virus Infection in a Rat Model Using a High Resolution, Longitudinal MRI Approach
Viruses 2021, 13(6), 1123; https://doi.org/10.3390/v13061123 - 11 Jun 2021
Viewed by 994
Abstract
Since Zika virus (ZIKV) first emerged as a public health concern in 2015, our ability to identify and track the long-term neurological sequelae of prenatal Zika virus (ZIKV) infection in humans has been limited. Our lab has developed a rat model of maternal [...] Read more.
Since Zika virus (ZIKV) first emerged as a public health concern in 2015, our ability to identify and track the long-term neurological sequelae of prenatal Zika virus (ZIKV) infection in humans has been limited. Our lab has developed a rat model of maternal ZIKV infection with associated vertical transmission to the fetus that results in significant brain malformations in the neonatal offspring. Here, we use this model in conjunction with longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to expand our understanding of the long-term neurological consequences of prenatal ZIKV infection in order to identify characteristic neurodevelopmental changes and track them across time. We exploited both manual and automated atlas-based segmentation of MR images in order to identify long-term structural changes within the developing rat brain following inoculation. The paradigm involved scanning three cohorts of male and female rats that were prenatally inoculated with 107 PFU ZIKV, 107 UV-inactivated ZIKV (iZIKV), or diluent medium (mock), at 4 different postnatal day (P) age points: P2, P16, P24, and P60. Analysis of tracked brain structures revealed significantly altered development in both the ZIKV and iZIKV rats. Moreover, we demonstrate that prenatal ZIKV infection alters the growth of brain regions throughout the neonatal and juvenile ages. Our findings also suggest that maternal immune activation caused by inactive viral proteins may play a role in altered brain growth throughout development. For the very first time, we introduce manual and automated atlas-based segmentation of neonatal and juvenile rat brains longitudinally. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our novel approach for detecting significant changes in neurodevelopment in models of early-life infections. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pediatric Viral Infection Long-Term Consequences)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Article
Detection of Human Papillomaviruses in the Nasopharynx of Breastfed Infants: New Findings and Meta-Analysis
Viruses 2020, 12(10), 1119; https://doi.org/10.3390/v12101119 - 01 Oct 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 639
Abstract
Vertical transmission of human papillomaviruses (HPVs) from mother to infant is known to occur during labor, delivery or breastfeeding. Infection with mucosal HPV 6 and 11 may cause recurrent respiratory papillomatosis in children, which is a rare and severe respiratory disease. The cutaneous [...] Read more.
Vertical transmission of human papillomaviruses (HPVs) from mother to infant is known to occur during labor, delivery or breastfeeding. Infection with mucosal HPV 6 and 11 may cause recurrent respiratory papillomatosis in children, which is a rare and severe respiratory disease. The cutaneous HPV genotypes have also been described to be transmitted from mother to newborn through skin-to-skin contacts and during breastfeeding. To investigate the perinatal transmission of alpha and beta HPVs we collected nasopharyngeal specimens from 0–12-months-old infants born by vaginal delivery and breastfed at the time of sample collection. The mucosal and cutaneous HPVs were searched by nested PCR using the MY09/11-MGPs and CP65/70-CP66/69 primer sets, respectively, and genotypes identified by direct sequencing analysis. Fourteen out of 113 (12.4%) samples tested positive for HPV and sequence analysis allowed us to identify eight beta genotypes (HPV 5b, 20, 25, 100, 107, 124, 152 and RTRX7). Moreover, we performed a comprehensive review of published studies on the prevalence of mucosal and cutaneous HPVs among 5126 newborns and observed that 10% and 53% were positive for alpha and beta HPVs, respectively. In all studies there was an inverse correlation between the rate of alpha HPV positivity and age, while a significant positive trend was observed in beta HPV detection and age with the highest rate among children older than 12 months (Χ2 test for trend of 10.6, p < 0.001). Further studies are needed to confirm the hypothesis that beta HPVs are transmitted to breastfeeding infants through shedding of viruses in the breast milk or on the external breast epithelium. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pediatric Viral Infection Long-Term Consequences)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop