Community acquired neumonia in chil- children dren aged 2-60 months in Colombia

Abstract

One hundred and ten children aged between 2 and 60 months with the diagnosis of communityacquired pneumoniae, were studied at Francisco Valderrama Hospital in the city of Turbo, Colombia; they belonged to the University of Antioquia Child Life program. Admission criteria were tachypnea and retraction according to the WHO guidelines for lower respiratory tract infection diagnosis in infants and preschool children in developing countries. Patients were studied microbiologically by means of blood cultures, urine latex aggutination test for bacterial antigens, ELISA test for Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and a panel for respiratory viruses that frequently cause this disease. Blood specimens and pulmonary radiographies were also taken under protocolized criteria and the former were transported by plane to Medellín under strict measures of preservation, in order to be processed at the Pediatric Investigation and Infectology Laboratory of the University of Antioquia.

Radiographies were positive in 77% of cases, blood cultures in 11.1%, latex agglutination for bacterial antigens in 7.4%, respiratory viruses panel in 3.7%, and ELISA test in 0.9%. Hemoleucograms had a wide range of variability. Relationships between epidemiological variables and the severity of the infection were not found. The study confirms the scarce positivity of paraclinical tests and reaffirms the importance of early clinical diagnosis as the basis for starting therapy.