The authors raise the question of the role of goat milk in the nutrition of infants. The properties of goat milk and its difference from cow milk are discussed. Indications for goat milk infant formula are defined. The authors demonstrate examples  of administration of goat milk formula from their own practice.

Nutritional rickets is a bone disease in early childhood resulting in bone pain, delayed motor development, and bending of the bones, caused by vitamin D deficiency and/or inadequate dietary calcium intake. The consequences of nutritional rickets include stunted growth, developmental delay, lifelong bone deformities, seizures, cardiomyopathy, and even death.

Dark skin pigmentation, sun avoidance, covering the  skin, prolonged breast feeding  without vitamin D supplementation, insufficient calcium supply, are important risk factors for nutritional rickets. The disease is most commonly seen in children from the  Middle East, Africa, and South Asia in high-income countries. European Vitamin D Association (EVIDAS)  recommends screening all children from the risk groups (dark skin ethnic groups) for nutritional rickets. Nutritional rickets is entirely preventable when regular vitamin D supplementation and adequate  dietary calcium intake are implemented. Vitamin D supplementation of all neonates and infants with a use of 400 IU/d during the first year of life and with at least 600 IU/d of vitamin D and 500mg/d  of calcium thereafter will effectively prevent nutritional rickets.

Infantile hemangiomas are the most common vascular lesions newborns and infants have and they are sure to be a socially significant  problem. Despite  the  fact  that  modern research techniques  allow  you  the  problems of  diagnosis  methods, classification, ways of observation and treatment of children with this pathology remain important in foreign and national literature. All this determines the constant interest of researchers to the problem of differential diagnosis, pathogenesis, risk factors and treatment of infants. This article presents current epidemiological data regarding infantile hemangiomas and the problems of the classification, of possible risk factors for their development, the treatment methods of the specialist when confronted with this problem are discussed.

A little more than 100 years ago the article “An investigation on the nature of ultra-microscopic viruses” by the English physician and researcher F. Twort was published in The Lancet. Twort described the phenomenon of transparent spots which occurred on the bacterial lawn when he worked with bacterial cultures using a petri dish. He examined the spots and found zones of dead bacteria. The spots were transmissible: they appeared on other dishes once transferred to a new lawn. Twort, failing to give a convincing explanation for this phenomenon, proposed three hypotheses:  it could be an unusual manifestation of the bacterial life cycle, or an enzyme produced by the bacteria themselves or some sort of “ultra-microscopic virus” which could cause the death of bacteria. Having voiced his hypotheses, Tvort let the matter drop, but many believe that with the article began the era of bacteriophages.

Pneumococcal infection is one of the leading reasons of the infection incidence and mortality rates. The pneumococcal infection has special danger for infants and elderly persons [1--7]. Thus, in children aged under 5 pneumococcus is one of the five causative agents accounting for the half of all lethal outcomes from infectious diseases [8]. According to the data provided by the World Health Organization each year more than 1 mln children die from the pneumococcal infection [1].

The acute respiratory viral infection (ARVI, in the English literature the term «common cold» is used) – is an acute, in most cases a self-limiting  infection of the  respiratory tract, manifested by catarrhal inflammation of the  upper respiratory tract and occurring with fever, running nose, sneezing, cough, sore throat, a disturbance of the general condition of varying severity [1]. The common cold is one of the most common diseases in the world [2]. Adults suffer 2 to 5 episodes of colds per year and children – up to 7–10 [3]. Children under 5 years of age suffer at the average 6–8  episodes  of ARVI  [4, 5]. In preschool institutions especially the incidence is high during the 1-2 years of visit, which is by 10–15% higher than that of non-organized children, but in school these children get sick more often [6].

The article describes major etiological factors and mechanisms of rhinosinusitis, traditional approaches to therapy of rhinosinusitis in children. Special attention is given to mechanisms of intense antiseptic, antifungal and immune modulating action of silver. The article presents Protargol drug that can be prepared immediately before application. Due to the silver proteinate with antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and binding effects Protargol can be used for therapy of acute and chronic rhinosinusitis in children.

The authors sum up literature data concerning clinical effectiveness of antiviral and immunomodulating drug Inosine Pranobex in therapy of respiratory infections in children. The manifold effect of the drug allows preventing polypharmacy and render effective aid.

Cough is one of the most frequent reasons for seeking pediatrician’s aid.  The fact that, generally, cough has the function of airway clearance is not always taken into account. Short-term, non-persistent cough may be a manifestation of the normal protective reaction. Coughing is beneficial if the sputum has certain rheological properties and there are no obstacles for its evacuation. However, more often coughing indicates the presence of a disease and may be inefficient because of impaired mucus clearance due to various reasons. Therefore, the physician should be able to manage cough and optimize the process of sputum clearance using rational methods of treatment.

Nasal breathing for newborns and infants is the most important function of the body. First of all, good breathing allows to breathe during feeding, which is certainly a priority during the breastfeeding period. In addition, when passing through the nose, the air gets warm, humidified and clean.

Acute respiratory infections remain one of the most pressing health issues in our society, they form a high fraction of all infectious disease cases, and they pose a high risk of complications, among others these can affect upper respiratory tract (acute otitis media, evstaheit etc.), or exacerbate chronic diseases like chronic tonsilitis, and adenoiditis. Many patients have signs of secondary immune deficiency. In these cases affection of the upper respiratory tract is lingering with frequent relapses, and standard therapy is less effective. Supplementing the treatment regime with advanced immunomodulatory drug polyoksidonii reduces the treatment time for both acute inflammation of upper respiratory tract, and for exacerbation of chronic  ENT pathology. It can also reduce the number of relapses during remission. A variety of forms and dosages provides the easy of use. Results of clinical studies confirm the high efficacy and safety.

Rational therapy is one of the basic conditions for an effective and safe treatment. Polypharmacy is a frequent mistake of rational therapy which is particularly relevant in pediatric practice. Given that polypharmacy is especially common in the treatment of children with acute respiratory infections (ARI), we consider it appropriate to focus on the challenges of rational therapy of ARI symptoms, one of which is cough. [1]

The widespread use of antibiotics over the last 80 years has saved millions of lives, however became the cause of another, no less crucial challenge antibiotic-associated alterations of the human microbiome. The review summarizes current findings on the shortand long-term effects of antibiotics on the body, and the potential of probiotics in mitigating those effects.

The pandemic of obesity which today is taking over the developed countries is a socially relevant problem, as it entails  the epidemic of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) which are the leading cause of death and disability. Observed during the last decade, the trend towards increased mortality from cardiovascular disease in children and young adults is especially worrisome. [1]

The incidence of food allergy manifestations in infants has steadily grown over the past years both in Russia and worldwide. Unfortunately, there is still no clear understanding among pediatricians that gastrointestinal manifestations of food allergy are no less common than skin manifestations.

Disorders of the autonomic nervous system represent a relevant problem in the modern pediatric and adolescent health care due to high prevalence, polymorphism of clinical manifestations, and a negative impact on the quality of life of children and adolescents.

It is now believed that autonomic dysfunction underlies many chronic non-communicable diseases which, according to WHO, cause death of tens of millions of people every year: coronary artery disease, hypotension and hypertension, cardiac arrhythmia and cardiac conduction defects, gastric ulcer, asthma, etc. The trigger of the pathological process, followed by damage to the target organ, is the change in nervous regulation.

Asthenia (from Greek σθένεια impotence) is a pathological condition characterized by weakness, fatigability, emotional lability, hyperesthesia, sleep disorders. Fatigue can accompany a variety of diseases (somatic, neurological, infectious, mental ones) and develop in healthy children in certain circumstances. Unlike usual fatigue usually occuring as a result of intense mobilization of the body and which is a physiological condition, the fatigue does not disappear after rest and require provision of patient medical care.

The author consider the problem of motion sickness, analyze the causes of dizziness, and suggest various solutions.

Objective of the Review: introduce modern ideas about the allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT) in children.

Key Points: The article presents data about frequency of sensibilization and allergic respiratory diseases in children. House dust mites and pollens are considered a major risk factors of allergic sensitization which plays an important role in development of allergic rhinitis and bronchial asthma. Allergen avoidance and pharmacotherapy cannot control the disease. Only allergy immunotherapy has disease-modifying potential and should be included in optimal treatment strategies for children. Allergy immunotherapy was first administered as subcutaneous injections. Recently, sublingual allergy immunotherapy (SLIT) was introduced. SLIT represent a more patient-friendly method because it can be used for children treatment at home.

Food allergy (FA) is immune-mediated adverse  reaction  to food. [1] According to recent  data, its incidence varies widely, from 0.9 to 13%. [2] The challenge is explained  by the fact that FA usually appears  in childhood.

The article presents major indications for prescription in the pediatric practice of iron preparations for parenteral administration. The most frequent cases of iron-deficient anemia requiring prescription of parenteral iron preparations are demonstrated on clinical examples. The attention  is  given  to  the  selection  of  the  optimal iron preparation for parenteral administration depending on the age of the child and calculation of the drug dosage.

Cough is a common symptom in respiratory pathology which is associated with 30% of all visits to therapist and more than 50% to pediatrician, especially during the period of respiratory infection outbreak. Cough (Latin tussis) is a natural reflex to clear airways. The spectrum of diseases accompanied by cough is varied, thus it is required from a doctor to understand the etiological causes and pathogenic mechanisms of its development to make the adequate choice of therapy.

Torsion of wandering spleen in children is a rare disease, one of the symptoms of acute ischemia of abdominal organs. The article describes clinical observation of a patient operated on urgently after a clinical and instrumental examination during which torsion of wandering spleen was suspected. Results of the conducted instrumental examination were not specific for the presumptive diagnosis, therefore, indications for laparoscopy were formulated during which the diagnosis was confirmed. The effectiveness of laparoscopic techniques in managing splenic torsion and fixation of the organ is demonstrated.

Tracheobronchial aspirate samples for PCR were obtained from 78 newborns with intrauterine pneumonia to verify the disease etiology. It was found that in 11.5% of cases congenital pneumonia was caused by Streptococcus agalactiae (S. agalactiae).  PCR test of pap smears obtained from 401 women (aged from 17 to 35 years) found the genome of S. agalactiae in 19.5% of cases. In 31 of the 78 infected women (39.7%), carriage of S. agalactiae was asymptomatic, characterized by the absence of complaints or any clinical or laboratory manifestations of the inflammatory process. The high S. agalactiae infection level in reproductiveage women and its role in the etiology of congenital infection determines the need for compulsory screening of pregnant women for S. agalactiae and antibiotic prophylaxis of perinatal S. agalactiae infection.