Etiology of community-acquired pneumonia in hospitalized children based on WHO clinical guidelines.
- Cevey-Macherel M Child and Adolescent Department, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland. manon.cevey-macherel@chuv.ch
- Galetto-Lacour A
- Gervaix A
- Siegrist CA
- Bille J
- Bescher-Ninet B
- Kaiser L
- Krahenbuhl JD
- Gehri M
- 2009-02-25
Published in:
- European journal of pediatrics. - 2009
C-Reactive Protein
Child, Preschool
Chlamydophila Infections
Chlamydophila pneumoniae
Community-Acquired Infections
Female
Hospitalization
Humans
Infant
Male
Pneumonia, Bacterial
Pneumonia, Mycoplasma
Pneumonia, Pneumococcal
Pneumonia, Viral
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Practice Guidelines as Topic
World Health Organization
English
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a major cause of death in developing countries and of morbidity in developed countries. The objective of the study was to define the causative agents among children hospitalized for CAP defined by WHO guidelines and to correlate etiology with clinical severity and surrogate markers. Investigations included an extensive etiological workup. A potential causative agent was detected in 86% of the 99 enrolled patients, with evidence of bacterial (53%), viral (67%), and mixed (33%) infections. Streptococcus pneumoniae was accounted for in 46% of CAP. Dehydration was the only clinical sign associated with bacterial pneumonia. CRP and PCT were significantly higher in bacterial infections. Increasing the number of diagnostic tests identifies potential causes of CAP in up to 86% of children, indicating a high prevalence of viruses and frequent co-infections. The high proportion of pneumococcal infections re-emphasizes the importance of pneumococcal immunization.
- Language
-
- English
- Open access status
- green
- Identifiers
-
- DOI 10.1007/s00431-009-0943-y
- PMID 19238436
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/12982
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