BACKGROUND Pneumonia is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the 'under-5s' and in Uganda accounts for 10-30% of childhood deaths. Antibiotic resistance is increasing. OBJECTIVE To describe the bacterial aetiology, antimicrobial sensitivity and outcome of severe pneumonia among children aged 2-59 months admitted to the Acute Care Unit, Mulago Hospital, Uganda. METHODS A total of 157 ...

Streptococcus (S.) pneumoniae is a common causative pathogen in pneumonia. Serine protease orthologs expressed by a variety of bacteria have been found of importance for virulence. Previous studies have identified two serine proteases in S. pneumoniae, HtrA (high-temperature requirement A) and PrtA (cell wall-associated serine protease A), that contributed to virulence in models of pneumonia an...

Pneumonia remains a leading public health concern in Thailand. Using population-based surveillance during January 2004-December 2006, we describe incidence, mortality, and bacterial etiologies of chest radiograph-confirmed pneumonia requiring hospitalization in one rural Thai province. Of 19,316 patients who met the case definition for clinical pneumonia, 9,596 (50%) had a chest radiograph, and...

UNLABELLED Staphylococcus aureus is a ubiquitous opportunistic human pathogen and a major health concern worldwide, causing a wide variety of diseases from mild skin infections to systemic disease. S. aureus is a major source of severe secondary bacterial pneumonia after influenza A virus infection, which causes widespread morbidity and mortality. While the phenomenon of secondary bacterial pne...

EditoriaL 666 Virulence Volume 4 issue 8 Influenza virus is a small virus with a negative stranded segmented RNA genome that causes infections of the respiratory tract in many species, commonly known as " the flu ". 1 The clinical spectrum of influenza infection ranges from a self-limited febrile respiratory illness to severe outcomes, including respiratory failure and death. 2 On average from ...

RATIONALE There are conflicting reports describing the effect of macrolide resistance on the presentation and outcomes of patients with Streptococcus pneumoniae pneumonia. OBJECTIVES We aimed to determine the effect of macrolide resistance on the presentation and outcomes of patients with pneumococcal pneumonia. METHODS We conducted a retrospective, observational study in the Hospital Clini...

Streptococcus pneumoniae is suspected to cause an important proportion of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) whose aetiology cannot be detected with conventional tests. In this study, the authors evaluated the diagnostic yield of a new immunochromatographic membrane test (ICT) for the detection of the S. pneumoniae antigen in the urine of patients admitted with diagnosed CAP. ICT was performed ...