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Coinfection less likely among children with pneumonia serotypes
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Among children with community-acquired alveolar pneumonia, those with pneumonia serotypes had lower blood sodium and hemoglobin concentrations and were less likely to be coinfected with respiratory viruses, according to data presented at ICAAC 2014.
Clinical and laboratory data for children younger than 5 years with community-acquired alveolar pneumonia was assessed by researchers from Soroka University Medical Center and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva, Israel. The study cohort consisted of 1,423 episodes of community-acquired alveolar pneumonia. Of these, 300 had pneumonia serotypes, 591 had non-pneumonia serotypes, and 532 tested negative for pneumonia.
Nasopharyngeal carriage of pneumonia serotypes 1, 5, 7F, 14 and 19A was associated with more severe disease and presented as higher temperature, anemia and inflammatory response among children carrying Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes, according to study researcher Ron Dagan, MD.
Ron Dagan
However, disease severity did not differ between children with S. pneumoniae serotypes and those who did not have S. pneumoniae serotypes.
Children without pneumonia serotypes or had non-pneumonia serotypes were more likely to have viral coinfections compared with children who had S. pneumoniae serotypes.
“These study findings suggest that pneumonia serotypes are more virulent, causing more severe disease and evoke a higher inflammatory response compared with non-pneumonia serotypes. Because pneumonia serotypes are more virulent, they are less dependent on previous or concurrent viral infection, as expressed by lower carriage of viruses during pneumonia associated with these serotypes,” Dagan told Infectious Diseases in Children.
For more information:
Fainguelernt Y. Abstract G-285. Presented at: 2014 Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy; Sept. 5-9, 2014; Washington, D.C.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.