Raoultellaornithinolytica is a pathogen causing an increasing number of pediatric infections.

A new study published in Frontiers in Pediatrics investigated the clinical characteristics of R.ornithinolytica infections in children.

This was a retrospective analysis wherein clinical features and drug susceptibility data of the five cases were analyzed and related literature was reviewed.

Overall, 14 cases (eight females, six males) were analyzed – nine cases were retrieved from PubMed, Web of Science and three domestic databasesand five cases from a hospital. The findings revealed that:

• Primary diseases of the older children were mainly of neoplastic and immune origin, while cases of infants and young children were mostly complicated by congenital malformation.
• Fever was the main symptom and neonatal infection was mainly manifested by dyspnea and hypoxemia, with multiple skin flushes, systemic erythema and leukocytosis.
• Of the 14 cases, six were ventilator-assisted, five had indwelling urethral catheters, three had surgical treatment or chemotherapy, and one had multiple rounds of continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT).
• Blood infection was found to be the main route of R. ornithinolytica infection in children.
• Skin flushing and systemic erythema could be positive clues for newborn infection.
• In addition, patients with multiple congenital abnormalities had higher susceptibility to infection, while tumors, immune deficiency and invasive operations increased the risk of infection.
• Blood culture was the main method of diseaseidentification.
• Based on the drug susceptibility results, the preferred antibiotics designated were– third generations of cephalosporins, carbapenems, quinolone and aminoglycoside.
• It was alsonoted that patients with sepsis mostly have poor prognosis.

In inference, it was stated that R.ornithinolytica infection, despite being rare, is still a life-threatening childhood disease that results in significant morbidity and mortality in neonates and immunosuppressed children.

Source: Frontiers in Pediatrics. 2020 Jul 10;8:362.doi: 10.3389/fped.2020.00362