This report provides an update on the surveillance conducted by the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU) during the period 1 January to 31 December 2012. The APSU, now in its 20th year of operation, continues to facilitate national active surveillance of uncommon communicable diseases of childhood. In 2012, the APSU conducted national surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), co...

Varicella is common and highly contagious and affects nearly all susceptible children before adolescence. Progressive varicella syndrome is a severe complication of primary Varicella Zoster Virus (VZV) infection, with visceral organ involvement, coagulopathy, severe hemorrhage, and continued vesicular lesion development. We report a rare case of progressive varicella syndrome with varicella gan...

A neonate with lower-limb hypoplasia, cutaneous scars, bilateral chorioretinitis, and multiple brain abnormalities is presented. Intrauterine herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infection was established on the basis of serological testing of the mother and viral cultures of the child's cutaneous lesions, obtained soon after birth. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first case of a pati...

A 33-year-old woman who was engaged to be married presented for her initial visit with an obstetrician. Her varicella-zoster IgG antibody titer, as measured by latex agglutination, was < 0.91, which signified nonimmunity. The patient did not know if she had previously had varicella. She had not been vaccinated. Three months later, she became pregnant. She was told to avoid crowds of children an...

purpose: to report two sisters with congenital myasthenic syndrome (cms) masquerading as myasthenia gravis. patients and findings: two six and seven years old sisters presented with variable strabismus, ptosis, and fatigue. all symptoms were aggravated with exercise and improved with rest. intramuscular prostigmin injection decreased their symptoms. a diagnosis of cms was made according to earl...

BACKGROUND Varicella is an acute infectious disease common during childhood. It has mostly an uncomplicated course in early childhood. Neverthless, it may result in severe complications, especially in particular age groups and clinical conditions. Down Syndrome represents a risk factor for developing complications, because of the frequent comorbidities and their immunodeficiency. CASE PRESENT...