Staphylococcus aureus Infections in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit: Illustrated Cases

Table 1

Staphylococcus aureus disease in the PICU.

	Case 1	Case 2	Case 3	Case 4
Gender	Male	Female	Female	Female
Age	5 months	6 months	21 months	12 years
Premorbid	Eczema	Short-gut syndrome, Broviac line, and eczema	Scald injury	Healthy
Organ system
Cardiovascular	Impaired LV function	Normal	Impaired LV function. Low diastolic pressure	Low diastolic pressure
Pulmonary	Mechanical ventilation for respiratory failure	Normal	Intubated for ARDS	Normal
Haematologic	Pancytopenia with gross hepatosplenomegaly. Normal clotting	Normal	Thrombocytopenia. Prolonged PT and aPTT	Pancytopenia. Aplastic anaemia. Normal clotting
Renal	Normal	Normal	Normal	Normal
Hepatic	Normal	Normal	Raised ALT	Normal
CNS	Normal	Normal	Lethargic	Normal
Sites of Staphylococcus aureus	Throat swab (MSSA) + wound swab (S. epidermidis)	Blood culture from Broviac line (MSSA), subperiosteal abscess (MSSA)	Wound swab (MSSA)	Blood culture (MRSA)
Final diagnosis	Septic shock and TEC, possibly associated with bed bug bite and MSSA	MSSA, osteomyelitis	MSSA, toxic shock syndrome following scald	MRSA septicemia associated with aplastic anaemia

ARDS: acute respiratory distress syndrome. LV: left ventricular. MSSA: methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus. MRSA: methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. TEC: transient erythroblastopenia of childhood.