Abstract
ABSTRACTCommunity-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is the leading cause of mortality in children under 5 years of age globally. To improve the management of CAP, we must distinguish CAP from other common pediatric conditions and develop better diagnostic methods to detect the causative organism, so as to best direct appropriate resources in both industrialized and developing countries. Here, we review the diagnostic modalities available for identifying viruses and bacteria in the upper and lower respiratory tract of children, with a discussion of their utility and limitations in diagnosing CAP in children.
Highlights
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality in both industrialized and developing countries
The definition of CAP varies between different sources; on a pathological level, pneumonia is considered infection of the lung parenchyma, i.e., lower respiratory tract (LRT) infection by microorganisms [2]
CAP is defined clinically as “the presence of signs and symptoms of pneumonia in a previously healthy child due to an infection which has been acquired outside hospital” by both the British Thoracic Society (BTS) and the
Summary
Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Children: the Challenges of Microbiological Diagnosis. Grovesc,d aDepartment of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom bDepartment of Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Great North Children's Hospital, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom cCentre for Experimental Medicine, Queens University, Belfast, United Kingdom dDepartment of Paediatrics, Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, Belfast, United Kingdom
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