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An 11-year-old girl presented with progressive vomiting and weight loss. Physical examination revealed a large mass in the upper abdomen due to a large trichobezoar in the stomach.

Three children, a 4.5-year-old boy and two girls aged 21 months and 10 years respectively, had for several weeks to months experienced lower back pain or walking problems, two of them had an elevated sedimentation and leucocytosis. The MRI scan revealed a narrowing of the lumbal disk. Furthermore, in the case of the 10-year-old girl, Staphylococcus lugdunensis was cultured from the puncture material of the disk. After treatment she continued to experience intermittent complaints of back pain; the other children made a complete recovery. (Spondylo)discitis must be differentiated from vertebral osteomyelitis. In the case of (spondylo)discitis, immobilising the spine with a corset is the mainstay of treatment. Antibiotics are only indicated when osteomyelitis cannot be excluded. Generally, the prognosis is good.

A nine-year-old girl had acute choreatic symptoms in her face and limbs, after a throat infection 6 weeks previously. On auscultation of the heart a systolic murmur was found and echocardiography showed mitral valve incompetence. There was a positive anti-deoxyribonuclease B titre in the serum, providing evidence of a previously contracted streptococcal infection. Both chorea and acquired carditis are major criteria for the diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever. The course was characterized--as it usually is--by spontaneous, gradual resolution of the symptoms. Protracted penicillin prophylaxis is indicated to prevent recurrence of acute rheumatic fever and cardiac valvular damage.