New findings on how children's immune cells react when presenting to hospital with fever could lead to better treatments for a range of illnesses. The study, led by a consortium of scientists from the University of Edinburgh, Kings College London and Imperial College London, has discovered how immune cells respond to different inflammatory diseases - including serious infections - in children, by analysing blood samples from over 100 children– where fever is the main presenting symptom. Common febrile illnesses in children include the flu, bacterial and viral infections, and conditions such as multi-system inflammatory syndromes and Kawasaki’s disease. As fever is the main presenting symptom in these conditions, discerning between these conditions without the immunological insights is a diagnosis and treatment challenge. Understanding the cause of acute febrile illness in children and how the patters of responses seen in immune cells to different causes of fever during, is fundamental to informing targeted treatments. Our study providing key insights towards achieving that goal for febrile illness in children. Professor Manu Shankar-Hari Chair of translational critical care medicine and honorary consultant in intensive care medicine, IRR We show that many of these febrile illness cause similar abnormalities in immune system - loosely termed ‘immune dysfunction’ - causing damage to the body. The research, published in Nature Communications, was led by the University of Edinburgh’s Professor Manu Shankar-Hari and Imperial College London’s Professor Michael Levin. The study was funded by European Union funding (DIAMONDS collaboration) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The team was motivated to investigate immune dysfunction in febrile illnesses after noticing that during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increase in the number of children being admitted to hospitals worldwide with what looked like symptoms of a severe bacterial infection, including high fevers, red eyes, conjunctivitis, rashes and very low blood pressure. In reality, the children were experiencing MIS-C, a condition that can develop about four weeks after COVID-19 infection (see link). Nature Communications Article Manu Shankar-Hari Research Group Publication date 15 Oct, 2024
