Editorial

The editorial board of Karnataka Paediatric Journal takes pleasure in presenting October –December 2021 issue. This issue contains review articles, original articles, case reports and journal reviews.

Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a rare devastating complication of measles virus (MV) involving the central nervous system. A poor cellular immune response seems to predispose individuals to the development of SSPE. The presence of mutations that may lead to MV persistence has also been demonstrated in SSPE patients. In this review, authors have provided a brief overview of SSPE from both an immunological and genetic perspective. The mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of SSPE that results in MV persistence have also been discussed. This will enable both the expansion of therapeutic options and the prediction of disease prognosis. These aspects have been described in the article ‘The immunogenetics of SSPE: A comprehensive review.’

Early identification and intervention of childhood autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is recognised to have a valuable impact on a child’s life. Nurses who are adequately prepared with the necessary screening practices to do early identification of the children with risk for ASD and knowledge surrounding ASD may enhance the screening practices in the child care delivery system. This study discusses nurses’ knowledge and understanding about childhood ASD and its’ screening practices among nurses. This review article – Nursing professional’s understanding and screening practices in the identification of children with ASD – carried out by reviewing electronic databases from inception to 2021. Based on the review, researchers conclude that the nursing professionals have scant to moderate knowledge and understanding on childhood ASD and its ‘Screening Practices.’ Effective training programmes and continuing nursing education would hasten the early identification and intervention process in this arena.

Neonatal outcome in COVID-19 pregnant women in District Hospital, Ballari, is an original article in which the neonatal COVID-19 incidence and outcome in a District Hospital was studied. This is a retrospective analytic study of 171 neonates born to COVID-19-positive pregnant women delivered during the pandemic. Babies were admitted in SNCU for various indications such as respiratory distress syndrome, meconium aspiration syndrome, other causes of respiratory distress, birth asphyxia, neonatal jaundice, hypoglycaemia, preterm care and neonatal COVID-19. Only 4% of neonates were tested positive for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. In this study, it was seen that COVID-19-positive neonates had milder manifestation with transmission rate of 4%. The findings conclude that neonatal COVID-19 outcome is not as severe as seen in adults.

Thyroid status in children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is an original research article. This was aimed to study thyroid hormone levels in children with SAM and its correlation with serum total protein and albumin levels. The authors concluded that impaired thyroid function and low serum T3 levels seen in SAM children were probably an adaptive change to malnutrition.

There are few interesting case reports in this issue - a rare association of oesophageal atresia and tracheo-oesophageal fistula with microgastria, unusual manifestation of the central hypothyroidism and a case report of incontinentia pigmenti with cutaneous, ocular and CNS manifestations.

Hope you enjoy the academic contents of this issue.

Dr. Bhaskar Shenoy

Editor-in-Chief, Karnataka Paediatric Journal

bshenoy@gmail.com