Recent Advances in Pediatric Infectious Diseases: A Review of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Strategies

Cureus. 2025 Oct 14;17(10):e94523. doi: 10.7759/cureus.94523. eCollection 2025 Oct.

ABSTRACT

Pediatric infectious diseases remain the leading cause of significant morbidity and mortality globally, especially among children under the age of five. Despite advances in vaccination and antimicrobial therapy, difficulties such as delayed diagnosis, increasing antimicrobial resistance, and socioeconomic inequalities constrain effective management. This review summarizes recent progress in molecular diagnostics, such as polymerase chain reaction, multiplex assays, and next-generation sequencing, and the contribution of biomarkers and host gene expression profiling to the discrimination between bacterial and viral infections to inform antibiotic stewardship. New therapeutic principles, such as immunomodulatory drugs and personalized medicine strategies, such as pharmacogenomics and therapeutic drug monitoring, are promising to enhance outcomes. Progress in pediatric vaccine antigens and schedules has further minimized the disease burden across the world. Moreover, digital health technologies and telemedicine are revolutionizing access and management of pediatric infections. However, access continues to be restricted by limited pediatric-specific clinical trials, costs, and issues of infrastructure. This integrated synthesis bridges a major knowledge gap by combining diagnostic and therapeutic innovations specific to children, providing insights to maximize clinical practice and guide future studies to promote child health globally.

PMID:41246697 | PMC:PMC12612650 | DOI:10.7759/cureus.94523