PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - KEI NUMAZAKI
AU  - SHUNZO CHIBA
AU  - MASAO UMETSU
AU  - TORU TANAKA
AU  - HIDEATSU YOSHIMURA
AU  - YOSHINORI KUNIYA
AU  - JUNICHI MIURA
AU  - NORIAKI ADACHI
AU  - SUSUMU UKAE
AU  - TOSHIHIKO MORI
AU  - DAISUKE UEDA
AU  - TOMOYUKI HOTSUBO
AU  - TOSHIYA SATO
TI  - Etiological Agents of Lower Respiratory Tract Infections in Japanese Children
DP  - 2004 Jan 01
TA  - In Vivo
PG  - 67--72
VI  - 18
IP  - 1
4099  - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/18/1/67.short
4100  - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/18/1/67.full
SO  - In Vivo2004 Jan 01; 18
AB  - To investigate the etiology of pediatric community-acquired pneumonia and bronchitis, we conducted a prospective, population-based study covering the total population <15 years of age in 16 municipalities in Hokkaido, Japan, during the period of April 2000 to March 2001. Chest radiographs were available for all cases (n=921; 398 as pneumonia and 523 as bronchitis) and paired sera for serologic assays were available for more than half of the cases. The following specimens were also collected : nasopharyngeal swabs for viral, bacteriological, mycoplasmal and chlamydial studies, blood for serology and blood culture. The children were then followed-up on days 3, 7 and 14. Specific infecting organisms were identified in a total of 853 (92.6%) out of 921 patients (398 cases of pneumonia and 523 cases of bronchitis) including 205 with mixed infection as follows: Mycoplasma pneumoniae, 252 (27.4%) patients; respiratory syncytial (RS) virus, 188 (20.4%); influenza A virus, 110 (11.9%); Streptococcus pneumoniae, 95 (10.3%); Haemophilus influenzae, 90 (9.8%); Haemophilus parainfluenzae, 35 (3.8%); Staphylococcus aureus, 29 (3.1%); adenovirus, 27 (2.9%); Moraxella catarrhalis, 12 (1.3%); Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 7 (0.8%); Chlamydia pneumoniae, 6 (0.7%); and other agents, 2 (0.2%). Mycoplasma infections were seen even in patients less than 5 years and RS and influenza A virus infections in patients more than 5 years of age. The importance of M. pneumoniae and RS virus in the etiology of lower respiratory infections in Japanese children was confirmed. Copyright © 2004 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved