Management of severe community-acquired pneumonia of children in developing and developed countries

Abstract

Childhood community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is common, and recent data have shown that the number of children with severe CAP is increasing worldwide. Regardless of geographical area, severe cases are those at the highest risk of hospitalisation, prolonged hospitalisation and death, and therefore require prompt identification and the most effective treatment in order to reduce CAP-related morbidity and mortality. This review evaluates the available data concerning the diagnosis and treatment of severe and/or complicated cases of paediatric CAP in developed and developing countries. It also underlines the fact that any evidence-based recommendations require more research in various areas, including the aetiology of severe cases and the reasons for the complications, the better definition of first-choice antibiotic treatment and when surgery may be useful, and the role of chest physiotherapy.

Characteristics of Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Hospitalized Lebanese Children and their Correlation

“…About half of affected children worldwide receive appropriate medical care [1,2]. Even though children in developing countries suffer the highest burden of the disease [3][4][5], children in developed countries continue to face high disease burden despite better nourishment and immunizations [6].…”

Misdiagnosis of Diabetic Ketoacidosis as Pneumonia in a Ghanaian Teenager: A Case Report

“…The patient was wrongly diagnosed as pneumonia because of lethargy, flaring nares and laboured respiration. Increased ketone bodies production in DKA results in Kussmaul respiration [5] which mimics rapid respiration with flaring nares as seen in pneumonia [6,11]. However, in pneumonia, there is a history of cough, chest pain and on physical examination there may be reduced air entry, bronchial breath sounds and crackles on auscultation [6] which were absent in our patient.…”

“…Such a patient would develop further complications and may even end up in mortality [4, 8,11]. Dextrose administration is part of supportive treatment for severe infections such as pneumonia [11] which can rather be detrimental to a patient with DKA.…”

Pneumococcal Infection in Children: Everyday Practice

“…В развивающихся странах ВП до сегодняшнего дня в значительной сте-пени обусловливает детскую смертность [1]. В тече-ние последнего года опубликовано несколько офици-альных руководств, имеющих целью оптимизировать диаг ностику и лечение ВП у детей [2,3].…”