ASVAC2022 : 8th Asian Vaccine Conference

Aiming to further the Immunization Partners in Asia Pacific (IPAP)'s vision of a world where no one suffers from a vaccine preventable disease, the 8^th Asian Vaccine Conference (ASVAC 2022) was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka and virtually from 15 to 18, September 2022 (www.asianvaccine.com). This conference followed those held in Siem Reap, Cambodia (2009), Manila, Philippines (2010), Jakarta, Indonesia (2011), Cebu, Philippines (2013), Hanoi, Vietnam (2015), Singapore (2017) and Naypyidaw and Yangon, Myanmar (2019). The ASVAC2022 themed "Immunization: in Era of Pandemics," commenced with the EPI Managers' Workshop, followed by pre-conference workshops and Vaccinology Masterclass, followed by the main conference featuring 5 plenary lectures, 6 partner-led symposia, free paper and poster presentations, and industry-supported lunch and evening sessions. There were over 1830 registered participants, with 112 attending in person and 998 virtually from 63 countries. The conference was organized by IPAP and hosted by the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Forum of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka College of Pediatricians, Sri Lanka College of Microbiologists and College of General Practitioners of Sri Lanka, with the support of the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka. The 9^th ASVAC is scheduled to be held in Davao City, Philippines in late 2023.

Use of magnesium sulphate in severe persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn

Persistent pulmonary hypertension in the newborn (PPHN) is a neonatal emergency due to the failure to achieve normal cardiopulmonary adaptation following delivery. A clinical trial to assess the efficacy of magnesium sulphate (MgSO4) in the treatment of PPHN was conducted in the tertiary level neonatal intensive care unit of RIPAS Hospital, Brunei Darussalam over a period of 2 years. Twelve newborn babies admitted consecutively to the neonatal intensive care unit with severe hypoxemia due to persistent pulmonary hypertension were included in this trial. A loading dose of 200 mg/kg MgSO4 was given over a period of 20 min, followed by a continuous infusion at the rate of 20-150 mg/kg/h to obtain a serum magnesium level between 3.5 and 5.5 mmol/l. No other vasodilators were used and babies were not hyperventilated. Dopamine was commenced at 5-10 microg/kg/min before the loading dose of MgSO4 was given. Mean blood pressure was maintained with short periods of dopamine alone or in combination with dobutamine. Oxygen index (OI) and alveolar-arterial oxygen gradient (A-aDO2) showed significant improvement within 24 h of treatment. In this study, MgSO4 was found to be a safe and effective pulmonary vasodilator. MgSO4 could be used as a first-line vasodilator in developing countries because of its low cost and high efficacy. Parenteral MgSO4 is easy to administer and monitor during treatment. When MgSO4 is used, systemic hypotension can be adequately controlled with ionotropes.

A syndrome with intracranial calcification and microcephaly in two sibs, resembling intrauterine infection

We report two children, the products of a consanguineous union, who died in infancy. Both children had severe microcephaly intracranial calcification, lissencephaly and polymicrogyria.