CLINICAL AND BACTERIOLOGICAL PROFILE OF COMMUNITY-ACQUIRED PNEUMONIA AMONG CHILDREN IN AND AROUND CHENGALPATTU
Author: C. P. RAMANI, V. PRANAVI
Category: Microbiology
Abstract:
Introduction: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) has become the major cause of mortality among children despite the availability of potent antibiotics and effective vaccines. This created the interest to identify the most com- mon bacteria causing pediatric CAP, which helps to reduce morbidity and mortality by early diagnosis and specific treatment.
Aims and Objectives: To study the prevalence of CAP, most common organisms and its susceptibility pat- tern, risk factors, and clinical outcome of the disease.
Materials and Methods: This was a hospital-based case series study which was carried out between April 2014 and July 2014. The study population included 52 children, in the age group of 3 months to 12 years, with clinical pneumonia. Blood samples, sputum, and gastric aspirates were col- lected and processed. Serology and antimicrobial susceptibility tests were also performed. Statistical analysis was per- formed with SPSS statistical software.
Results: Children in the age group of 1-5 years were the most affected (46.15%) with male predominance (55.77%). The most common symptom was found to be fever (90.38%) followed by a cough (78.85%) and the most common organism isolated was Streptococcus pneumoniae (41.67%). The mortality was observed in two cases (3.84%).
Conclusion: CAP is still the common cause of morbidity and mortality due to the viru- lence of pathogens. The resistance of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strain to most of the antibiotics indi- cates the unnecessary use of antibiotics as one of the reasons for increasing resistance. Recurrent respiratory infections have been elicited as the risk factors for the development of severe illness.
