Katherine L. O’Brien, Henry C. Baggett, W. Abdullah Brooks, Daniel R. Feikin et al.
BACKGROUND: Pneumonia is the leading cause of death among children younger than 5 years. In this study, we estimated causes of pneumonia in young African and Asian children, using novel analytical methods applied to clinical and microbiological findings. METHODS: We did a multi-site, international c...
Marc Monot, Nadine Honoré, Thierry Garnier, Nora Zidane et al.
Reductive evolution and massive pseudogene formation have shaped the 3.31-Mb genome of Mycobacterium leprae, an unculturable obligate pathogen that causes leprosy in humans. The complete genome sequence of M. leprae strain Br4923 from Brazil was obtained by conventional methods (6x coverage), and Il...
Henry C. Baggett, Nora L. Watson, Maria Deloria Knoll, W. Abdullah Brooks et al.
BACKGROUND.: Previous studies suggested an association between upper airway pneumococcal colonization density and pneumococcal pneumonia, but data in children are limited. Using data from the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) study, we assessed this potential association. METHODS....
Daniel R. Feikin, Wei Fu, Daniel E. Park, Qiyuan Shi et al.
BACKGROUND.: The etiologic inference of identifying a pathogen in the upper respiratory tract (URT) of children with pneumonia is unclear. To determine if viral load could provide evidence of causality of pneumonia, we compared viral load in the URT of children with World Health Organization-defined...
Nicholas Fancourt, Maria Deloria Knoll, Henry C. Baggett, W. Abdullah Brooks et al.
BACKGROUND.: Chest radiographs (CXRs) are frequently used to assess pneumonia cases. Variations in CXR appearances between epidemiological settings and their correlation with clinical signs are not well documented. METHODS.: The Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health project enrolled 4232 case...
Daniel E. Park, Henry C. Baggett, Stephen R. C. Howie, Qiyuan Shi et al.
BACKGROUND.: There is limited information on the association between colonization density of upper respiratory tract colonizers and pathogen-specific pneumonia. We assessed this association for Haemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pneumocystis jirovecii. METHODS....
Andrea N. DeLuca, Laura L. Hammitt, Julia Kim, Melissa M. Higdon et al.
BACKGROUND.: Induced sputum (IS) may provide diagnostic information about the etiology of pneumonia. The safety of this procedure across a heterogeneous population with severe pneumonia in low- and middle-income countries has not been described. METHODS.: IS specimens were obtained as part a 7-count...
David R. Murdoch, Susan C. Morpeth, Laura L. Hammitt, Amanda J. Driscoll et al.
BACKGROUND.: It is standard practice for laboratories to assess the cellular quality of expectorated sputum specimens to check that they originated from the lower respiratory tract. The presence of low numbers of squamous epithelial cells (SECs) and high numbers of polymorphonuclear (PMN) cells are ...
Donald M. Thea, Phil Seidenberg, Daniel E. Park, Lawrence Mwananyanda et al.
BACKGROUND.: Sputum examination can be useful in diagnosing the cause of pneumonia in adults but is less well established in children. We sought to assess the diagnostic utility of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for detection of respiratory viruses and bacteria in induced sputum (IS) specimens from...
Susan C. Morpeth, Maria Deloria Knoll, J. Anthony G. Scott, Daniel E. Park et al.
BACKGROUND.: We investigated the performance of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on blood in the diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia among children from 7 low- and middle-income countries. METHODS.: We tested blood by PCR for the pneumococcal autolysin gene in children aged 1-59 months in the Pneumon...
David R. Murdoch, Susan C. Morpeth, Laura L. Hammitt, Amanda J. Driscoll et al.
BACKGROUND.: Sputum microscopy and culture are commonly used for diagnosing the cause of pneumonia in adults but are rarely performed in children due to difficulties in obtaining specimens. Induced sputum is occasionally used to investigate lower respiratory infections in children but has not been w...
Eric D. McCollum, Daniel E. Park, Nora L. Watson, W Chris Buck et al.
INTRODUCTION: Paediatric lung sound recordings can be systematically assessed, but methodological feasibility and validity is unknown, especially from developing countries. We examined the performance of acoustically interpreting recorded paediatric lung sounds and compared sound characteristics bet...
Jane Crawley, Christine Prosperi, Henry C. Baggett, W. Abdullah Brooks et al.
BACKGROUND.: Variable adherence to standardized case definitions, clinical procedures, specimen collection techniques, and laboratory methods has complicated the interpretation of previous multicenter pneumonia etiology studies. To circumvent these problems, a program of clinical standardization was...
Maria Deloria Knoll, Susan C. Morpeth, J. Anthony G. Scott, Nora L. Watson et al.
BACKGROUND.: Detection of pneumococcus by lytA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in blood had poor diagnostic accuracy for diagnosing pneumococcal pneumonia in children in 9 African and Asian sites. We assessed the value of blood lytA quantification in diagnosing pneumococcal pneumonia. METHODS.: The ...
Eric D. McCollum, Daniel E. Park, Nora L. Watson, Nicholas Fancourt et al.
BACKGROUND: Whether digitally recorded lung sounds are associated with radiographic pneumonia or clinical outcomes among children in low-income and middle-income countries is unknown. We sought to address these knowledge gaps. METHODS: We enrolled 1 to 59monthold children hospitalized with pneumonia...