The value of clinical features in differentiating between viral, pneumococcal and atypical bacterial pneumonia in children

Abstract

No clinical or radiological characteristic was helpful in the separation between viral, pneumococcal and atypical bacterial aetiology of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in children.

Procalcitonin and community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in children

“…Several authors [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] have investigated the role of PCT as a serum marker for differentiating bacterial and viral CAP in children, individually or combined with other inflammatory markers. Generally, two hypotheses emerged: one confirming the usefulness of PCT in distinguishing the etiology of CAP, the other finding no usefulness.…”

Simultaneous use of direct and indirect diagnostic techniques in atypical respiratory infections from Chlamydophila pneumoniae and Mycoplasma pneumoniae

“…Moreover the importance of an accurate and early diagnosis of the atypical CAP could avoid their nonresponsiveness to beta-lactam therapy, to the potential role of C. pneumoniae in coronary artery disease and multiple sclerosis and to the role of M. pneumoniae and C. pneumoniae in causing or exacerbating asthma (10). Good laboratory methods for detecting of atypical pathogens are very important, for their implications in public health (10) and because accurate prediction of etiology cannot be made purely on clinical or radiologic grounds (11).…”

Ampicillin/sulbactam for children hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia

“…Atypical respiratory pathogens, for example Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Legionella species, and Chlamydia pneumoniae, are isolated with increasing frequency from CAP, and the incidence of dual bacterial infections varies from 2 to 14% [24]. Because clinical differentiation of typical, atypical, and viral pneumonia in children remains challenging [25,26], appropriate empiric antibiotic therapy is still the mainstay of treatment for children with CAP. Nevertheless, no role of treatment with macrolides could be shown as an effective factor on prognosis in this study.…”