Abstract
Background: Diagnosing viral and bacterial infectious diseases in children is of great importance. The conventional treatment for the given diseases has been proven relatively impractical and, therefore, finding a practical diagnostic method seems necessary. Measuring procalcitonin (PCT) levels in the blood is one of those useful tests which have high sensitivity and specificity compared to other methods. Moreover, many researchers have emphasized that the level of PCT in bacterial infections is significant. Therefore, PCT level measurement can be adopted as a highly effective factor for distinguishing bacterial infections from viral ones. Our study aimed to evaluate the plasma levels of PCT in children aged 3-36 months. Methods: In this study which was conducted in 2020 in Kermanshah, Iran, 49 children aged 3-36 months having focal fever and referring to the pediatric emergency department of Mohammad Kermanshahi and Imam Reza hospitals in Kermanshah were examined. Distinguishing bacterial infection from viral one was first made by a pediatrician using CBC diff-ESR-CRP tests. Results: The mean serum level of PCT in bacterial infections was significantly higher than that in viral infections. Furthermore, the mean of white blood cell (WBC), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) in bacterial infection was significantly higher than that in viral infection. Conclusions: According to our study findings, plasma levels of PCT could have been considered as a diagnostic indicator of the infection. Therefore, it was recommended that the evaluation of PCT plasma levels in children with infection be performed in early stages of the disease. However, it was also suggested that this evaluation be conducted after performing further investigations in this field.
Highlights
Diagnosing viral and bacterial infectious diseases in children is of great importance
White blood cell (WBC) and C-reactive protein (CRP) tests are performed to detect the kind of infection when dealing with numerous cases
The inclusion criteria were as follow: children with no immunodeficiency, chronic kidney, and heart diseases; those with previously treated infections; and those with an initial diagnosis of a bacterial or viral infection which was later confirmed by complete blood count (CBC) diffESR-CRP laboratory tests
Summary
Diagnosing viral and bacterial infectious diseases in children is of great importance. Our study aimed to evaluate the plasma levels of PCT in children aged 3-36 months. The mean of white blood cell (WBC), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) in bacterial infection was significantly higher than that in viral infection. It was recommended that the evaluation of PCT plasma levels in children with infection be performed in early stages of the disease. White blood cell (WBC) and C-reactive protein (CRP) tests are performed to detect the kind of infection when dealing with numerous cases. These diagnostic tests are used in almost 80% of the cases, but sometimes the resulting diagnoses are incorrect [1]. Studies from 2008 and 2009 have shown that this substance facilities the treatment of children afflicted with viral and bacterial infections, reduces the consumption of antibiotics and the drug resistance in these patients, and lowers the cost of treatment [2,3,4]
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More From: Avicenna Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infection
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