Patients with congenital heart diseases (CHD) are confronted with early- and late-onset complications, such as conduction disorders, arrhythmias, myocardial dysfunction, altered coronary flow, and ischemia, throughout their lifetime despite successful hemodynamic and/or anatomical correction. Rhythm disturbance is a well-known and increasingly frequent cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with CHD. Predisposing factors to rhythm disturbances include underlying cardiac defects,...

The risk of mortality and morbidity of patients with congenital heart defects (CHDs) is highest during neonatal period and increases when diagnosis and proper management are delayed. Neonates with critical CHDs may present with severe cyanosis, respiratory distress, shock, or collapse, all of which are also frequent clinical presentations of various respiratory problems or sepsis in the newborn. Early diagnosis...

Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory tract disease caused by Bordetella pertussis infection. The clinical manifestation of this infection can be severe enough to cause death. Although pertussis has been supposed to be a vaccine-preventable disease ever since the widespread vaccination of children against pertussis was started, since the 1990s, cases of pertussis and related fatalities are on the rise,...

The mumps virus is a single-stranded, non-segmented, negative-sense RNA virus belonging to the Paramyxoviridae family. Mumps is characterized by bilateral or unilateral swelling of the parotid gland. Aseptic meningitis is a common complication, and orchitis is also common in adolescents and adult men. Diagnosis is based on clinical findings, but because of high vaccination coverage, clinical findings alone are not...

Enterovirus 71 (EV71) has been recognized as a frequent cause of epidemics of hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) associated with severe neurological symptoms. In the spring of 2009, HFMD was epidemic in Korea. Severe cases with complication, including death, have been reported and it has become a public health issue. Most symptomatic EV71 infections commonly result in HFMD or herpangina. These clinical...