A new study led by King's College London, Imperial College London and the University of Edinburgh, has characterized the similarities and differences between immune cell profiles in children with different infections and inflammatory diseases. The findings, published in Nature Communications , could help to improve the way we target immune system disruption when treating these illnesses. Severe infections and inflammatory diseases that cause fever (also known as febrile illnesses) can be life-threatening to children .
This is partly because they can stop the immune system from functioning properly. This " immune dysfunction " makes the body less effective at clearing infections and can send the immune system into overdrive, causing damage to the body. Despite having different causes, severe febrile illnesses often have overlapping symptoms, and the immune dysfunction caused by these illnesses is also similar to that seen in sepsis.
This can make diagnosis difficult. But understanding exactly what happens to the immune system in response to different febrile illnesses could help with diagnosis and highlight new ways to treat immune dysfunction in more targeted ways. In the study, the team looked at the different groups of immune cells in blood samples taken from 128 children with different febrile illnesses, including multisystem inflammatory syndrome of childhood (MIS-C) associated with COVID-19 infection , severe bacterial infection, severe viral infection and Kawasaki disea.