Articles

The expansive effects of polyamines on the metabolism and virulence of Streptococcus pneumoniae

Polyamines are common intracellular metabolites of nearly all cells, and their conservation across a vast diversity of cells suggests critical roles for these compounds in cellular physiology. Most intracellul...

Authors: Bindu Nanduri and Edwin Swiatlo

Malawian children with fast-breathing pneumonia with and without comorbidities

Due to high risk of mortality, children with comorbidities are typically excluded from trials evaluating pneumonia treatment. Understanding heterogeneity of outcomes among children with pneumonia and comorbidi...

Authors: Amy Sarah Ginsburg, Tisungane Mvalo, Jun Hwang, Melda Phiri, Eric D. McCollum, Madalitso Maliwichi, Robert Schmicker, Ajib Phiri, Norman Lufesi and Susanne May

HSV-pneumonitis in a patient with lung cancer receiving check point inhibitors – a case report

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is commonly associated with oro-facial and genital manifestations. It rarely causes encephalitis and even less commonly, in heavily immunosuppressed patients, visceral disease or bro...

Authors: Johannes Sumer, Frederike Waldeck, Nadja Fischer, Christina Appenzeller, Markus Koster, Martin Früh and Werner C. Albrich

Legionnaires’ disease in the time of COVID-19

Due to similarities in initial disease presentation, clinicians may be inclined to repeatedly test community-acquired pneumonia cases for COVID-19 before recognizing the need to test for Legionnaires’ disease....

Authors: Kelsie Cassell, J Lucian Davis and Ruth Berkelman

Cost effectiveness analysis of implementing tuberculosis screening among applicants for non-immigrant U.S. work visas

While persons who receive immigrant and refugee visas are screened for active tuberculosis before admission into the United States, nonimmigrant visa applicants (NIVs) are not routinely screened and may enter ...

Authors: Bisma Ali Sayed, Drew L. Posey, Brian Maskery, La’Marcus T. Wingate and Martin S. Cetron

Determinants of community acquired pneumonia among 2 to 59 months of age children in Northeast Ethiopia: a case-control study

Pneumonia is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in under-five children. Regardless of this fact, efforts to identify determinants of pneumonia have been limited in the study area. The aim of this stu...

Authors: Getaw Walle Bazie, Nebat Seid and Bitiya Admassu

An observational study of the reactogenicity and immunogenicity of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in women of childbearing age in Papua New Guinea

Maternal immunization with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) may protect young infants in high-risk settings against the high risk of pneumococcal infections in early life. The aim of this study was to dete...

Authors: Sarah Javati, Geraldine Masiria, Arthur Elizah, John-Paul Matlam, Rebecca Ford, Peter C. Richmond, Deborah Lehmann, William S. Pomat and Anita H. J. van den Biggelaar

E-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury: a review

E-cigarette, or Vaping, Product Use-Associated Lung Injury (EVALI) is a disease entity related to the use of battery-operated or superheating devices that create an aerosolized form of nicotine and tetrahydroc...

Authors: Samuel H. Belok, Raj Parikh, John Bernardo and Hasmeena Kathuria

Etiology of community-acquired pneumonia in adults: a systematic review

The etiology of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) has evolved since the beginning of the antibiotic era. Recent guidelines encourage immediate empiric antibiotic treatment once a diagnosis of CAP is made. Con...

Authors: Saeed Shoar and Daniel M. Musher

Variation in clinical outcomes and process of care measures in community acquired pneumonia: a systematic review

Variation in outcomes of patients with community acquired pneumonia (CAP) has been reported in some, but not all, studies. Although some variation is expected, unwarranted variation in healthcare impacts patie...

Authors: H. Lawrence, W. S. Lim and T. M. McKeever

Tuberculosis in migrants – screening, surveillance and ethics

Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading infectious cause of human mortality and is responsible for nearly 2 million deaths every year. It is often regarded as a ‘silent killer’ because it predominantly affects the po...

Authors: Gabriella Scandurra, Chris Degeling, Paul Douglas, Claudia C. Dobler and Ben Marais

Community acquired paediatric pneumonia; experience from a pneumococcal vaccine- naive population

Childhood pneumonia continues to be a disease that causes severe morbidity and mortality among children mainly in South-East Asia and Africa though it is not so in the developed world. Pneumonia accounts for 1...

Authors: Sanath Thushara Kudagammana, Ruchira Ruwanthika Karunaratne, Thilini Surenika Munasinghe and Haputhanthirige Donna Wasana Samankumari Kudagammana

Prevalence of gram negative bacteria causing community acquired pneumonia among adults in Mwanza City, Tanzania

Community acquired pneumonia (CAP) in adults is still a common and serious illness in the sub-Saharan Africa. Identification of the pathogens is crucial in the management of CAP. This study was done to determi...

Authors: Peter Kishimbo, Nyambura Moremi Sogone, Fredrick Kalokola and Stephen E. Mshana

Validation for using electronic health records to identify community acquired pneumonia hospitalization among people with and without HIV

Cohort studies identifying the incidence, complications and co-morbidities associated with community acquired pneumonia (CAP) are largely based on administrative datasets and rely on International Classificati...

Authors: Maria C. Rodriguez-Barradas, Kathleen A. McGinnis, Kathleen Akgün, Janet P. Tate, Sheldon T. Brown, Adeel A. Butt, Michael Fine, Matthew Bidwell Goetz, Christopher J. Graber, Laurence Huang, David Rimland, Amy Justice and Kristina Crothers

Clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with H1N1 influenza pneumonia admitted at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan

Influenza viruses specifically, A and B mainly contribute to seasonal outbreaks that occur globally. However, due to limited diagnostics for influenza there is little data regarding clinical outcomes of patien...

Authors: Mujahid Hussain, Nosheen Nasir, Muhammad Irfan and Zahra Hasan

Measuring accuracy of plethysmography based respiratory rate measurement using pulse oximeter at a tertiary hospital in India

Childhood pneumonia continues to be a major infectious killer in India. WHO recommended respiratory rate and oxygen saturation (SpO₂) measurements are not well implemented in Indian public health outpatient facil...

Authors: Varun Alwadhi, Enisha Sarin, Praveen Kumar, Prasant Saboth, Ajay Khera, Sachin Gupta and Harish Kumar

Promoting the use of social networks in pneumonia

Pneumonia is a serious health concern, but it does not attract the attention it warrants. Perhaps this is due to a lack of understanding of the real extent of this infectious disease in the general population.

Authors: Catia Cillóniz, Leith Greenslade, Cristina Dominedò and Carolina Garcia-Vidal

State-of-the-art in the pneumococcal field: Proceedings of the 11^th International Symposium on Pneumococci and Pneumococcal Diseases (ISPPD-11)

The International Symposium on Pneumococci and Pneumococcal Diseases (ISPPD) is the premier global scientific symposium dedicated to the exchange, advancement and dissemination of the latest research on the pn...

Authors: Brenda Anna Kwambana-Adams, E. Kim Mulholland and Catherine Satzke

Pneumonia in Bhutanese children: what we know, and what we need to know

Pneumonia is the single largest cause of death in under-five children worldwide. We conducted a systematic review to identify the knowledge gaps around childhood pneumonia in Bhutan.

Authors: Sophie Jullien, Dinesh Pradhan and Quique Bassat

The impact of certain underlying comorbidities on the risk of developing hospitalised pneumonia in England

UK specific data on the risk of developing hospitalised CAP for patients with underlying comorbidities is lacking. This study compared the likelihood of hospitalised all-cause community acquired pneumonia (CAP...

Authors: J. Campling, D. Jones, J. D. Chalmers, Q. Jiang, A. Vyse, H. Madhava, G. Ellsbury and M. Slack

Meningococcal pneumonia: a review

Although Neisseria meningitidis is one of the major causes of meningitis, meningococcal pneumonia is the most common non-neurological organ disease caused by this pathogen.

Authors: Charles Feldman and Ronald Anderson

Treatment of community-onset pneumonia in neutropenic cancer patients: β-lactam monotherapy versus combination antibiotic regimens

Although β-lactam monotherapy may be sufficient in non-critically ill patients with community-acquired pneumonia, the value of combination antibiotic regimens in community-onset neutropenic pneumonia remains u...

Authors: Hyeri Seok, Jae-Hoon Ko, Kyong Ran Peck, Ji-Yeon Kim, Ji Hye Lee, Ga Eun Park, Sun Young Cho, Cheol-In Kang, Nam Yong Lee and Doo Ryeon Chung

Mycobacterium tuberculosis: escape room world champion

Authors: Thuc Anh Nguyen, Sophie Croon and Ger Rijkers

Inter-hospital variation in the utilization of diagnostics and their proportionality in the management of adult community-acquired pneumonia

Utilization of diagnostics and biomarkers are the second largest cost drivers in the management of patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). The present study aimed to systematically asses...

Authors: Stefan M. T. Vestjens, Esther Wittermans, Simone M. C. Spoorenberg, Jan C. Grutters, Charlotte A. van Ruitenbeek, G. Paul Voorn, Willem Jan W. Bos and Ewoudt M. W. van de Garde

Risk factors associated with nasopharyngeal carriage and density of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis, and Staphylococcus aureus in young children living in Indonesia

Potentially pathogenic bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis, and Staphylococcus aureus are commonly carried in the nasopharynx of young children. Host and environmental...

Authors: Eddy Fadlyana, Eileen M. Dunne, Kusnandi Rusmil, Rodman Tarigan, Sunaryati Sudigdoadi, Chrysanti Murad, Emma Watts, Cattram Nguyen, Catherine Satzke, Nurhandini Eka Dewi, Sang Ayu Kompiyang Indriyani, Finny Fitry Yani, Kim Mulholland and Cissy Kartasasmita

Impact of the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination in pregnancy against infant acute lower respiratory infections in the Northern Territory of Australia

Indigenous children in Australia’s Northern Territory are densely colonised with the pneumococcus within weeks of birth antecedent to a high prevalence of acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI). We assessed ...

Authors: Michael J. Binks, Sarah A. Moberley, Anne Balloch, Amanda J. Leach, Sandra Nelson, Kim M. Hare, Cate Wilson, Jane Nelson, Peter S. Morris, Robert S. Ware, Mimi L. K. Tang, Paul J. Torzillo, Jonathan R. Carapetis, Kim Mulholland and Ross M. Andrews

A rare case of lipoid pneumonia attributed to amiodarone

We report a case of endogenous lipoid pneumonia secondary to long-term use of amiodarone (> 30 years) for atrial fibrillation in a 76-year-old Caucasian woman, presenting with cough and dyspnea. Endogenous Lipoid...

Authors: Ilektra Voulgareli, Alexandra Chronaiou, Dionisios Tsoukalas and George Tsoukalas

Streptococcus pneumoniae outbreaks and implications for transmission and control: a systematic review

Streptococcus pneumoniae is capable of causing multiple infectious syndromes and occasionally causes outbreaks. The objective of this review is to update prior outbreak reviews, identify control measures, and com...

Authors: Paul N. Zivich, John D. Grabenstein, Sylvia I. Becker-Dreps and David J. Weber

Corynebacteria as a cause of pulmonary infection: a case series and literature review

In most cases of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), an etiologic agent is not determined; the most common report from the microbiological evaluation of sputum cites “normal respiratory flora.” Non-diphtheria Cor...

Authors: Katharine Yang, Robert L. Kruse, Weijie V. Lin and Daniel M. Musher

Decreased relative risk of pneumococcal pneumonia during the last decade, a nested case-control study

Streptococcus pneumoniae (SP) is one of the most common pathogens of Community-Acquired Pneumonia (CAP), but recent reports suggest that its incidence may be declining in relation to the use of the conjugate 13-v...

Authors: Carlos M. Luna, Laura Pulido, Michael S. Niederman, Alberto Casey, Diego Burgos, Sebastián D. Leiva Agüero, Alejandra Grosso, Evangelina Membriani, Andrea C. Entrocassi, Marcelo Rodríquez Fermepin, Carlos A. Vay, Susana Garcia and Angela Famiglietti

The old man’s friend

Authors: Ger T. Rijkers and Stephen I. Pelton

How low can we go? The implications of low bacterial load in respiratory microbiota studies

Culture-independent sequencing methods are increasingly used to investigate the microbiota associated with human mucosal surfaces, including sites that have low bacterial load in healthy individuals (e.g. the ...

Authors: Robyn L. Marsh, Maria T. Nelson, Chris E. Pope, Amanda J. Leach, Lucas R. Hoffman, Anne B. Chang and Heidi C. Smith-Vaughan

Lung function in HIV-infected children and adolescents

The advent of antiretroviral therapy has led to the improved survival of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected children to adulthood and to HIV becoming a chronic disease in older children and adolescent...

Authors: Leah N. Githinji, Diane M. Gray and Heather J. Zar

Anti-protein immunoglobulin M responses to pneumococcus are not associated with aging

The incidence of community-acquired pneumonia and lower respiratory tract infection rises considerably in later life. Immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody levels to pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide are known to...

Authors: Esther L. German, Bahij Al-Hakim, Elena Mitsi, Shaun H. Pennington, Jenna F. Gritzfeld, Angie D. Hyder-Wright, Antonia Banyard, Stephen B. Gordon, Andrea M. Collins and Daniela M. Ferreira

Rapid molecular assays for detection of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that remains an important public health problem at the global level. It is one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality, due to the emergence of antibiotic resis...

Authors: Rkia Eddabra and Hassan Ait Benhassou

Cilostazol for the prevention of pneumonia: a systematic review

Pneumonia is a very common disease, especially among the elderly. Various drugs’ preventive effects against pneumonia have been reported. The antiplatelet drug cilostazol is used to prevent pneumonia, but the ...

Authors: Hirotaka Nakashima, Kazuhisa Watanabe, Hiroyuki Umegaki, Yusuke Suzuki and Masafumi Kuzuya

The association between pre-hospital antibiotic therapy and subsequent in-hospital mortality in adults presenting with community-acquired pneumonia: an observational study

The majority of patients with community acquired-pneumonia (CAP) are treated in primary care and the mortality in this group is very low. However, a small but significant proportion of patients who begin treat...

Authors: Biswajit Chakrabarti, Dan Wootton, Steven Lane, Elizabeth Kanwar, Joseph Somers, Jacyln Proctor, Nancy Prospero and Mark Woodhead

Pneumococcal vaccination in older persons: where are we today?

Disease due to Streptococcus pneumoniae, the pneumococcus, remains a major source of illness in older persons. Globally, it remains the most important pathogen in respiratory infection deaths.

Authors: Paul Van Buynder and Robert Booy

Rationale and methods of a randomized controlled trial of immunogenicity, safety and impact on carriage of pneumococcal conjugate and polysaccharide vaccines in infants in Papua New Guinea

Children in third-world settings including Papua New Guinea (PNG) experience early onset of carriage with a broad range of pneumococcal serotypes, resulting in a high incidence of severe pneumococcal disease a...

Authors: Deborah Lehmann, Wendy Kirarock, Anita H. J. van den Biggelaar, Megan Passey, Peter Jacoby, Gerard Saleu, Geraldine Masiria, Birunu Nivio, Andrew Greenhill, Tilda Orami, Jacinta Francis, Rebecca Ford, Lea-Ann Kirkham, Vela Solomon, Peter C. Richmond and William S. Pomat

Rocking pneumonia

Ever since Chuck Berry coined the term “rocking pneumonia” in his 1956 song “Roll over Beethoven”, pneumonia has been mentioned frequently in modern blues and rock songs. We analyzed the lyrics of these songs ...

Authors: Ger T. Rijkers and Maria Rodriguez Gomez

Economic burden of community-acquired pneumonia among elderly patients: a Japanese perspective

This study aimed to estimate the economic burden of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) among elderly patients in Japan. In addition, the study evaluated the relationship between total treatment cost and CAP ri...

Authors: Keiko Konomura, Hideaki Nagai and Manabu Akazawa

Risk factors for community-acquired pneumonia among adults in Kenya: a case–control study

Pneumonia is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among adults worldwide; however, the risk factors for community-acquired pneumonia in Africa are not well characterized.

Authors: Esther Muthumbi, Brett S. Lowe, Cyprian Muyodi, Esther Getambu, Fergus Gleeson and J. Anthony G. Scott

Case report on a defective antibody response against pneumococcal serotype 9V in a patient with a single episode of pneumonia

Patients with recurrent respiratory tract infections and an impaired response to pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination are diagnosed with a specific antibody deficiency. In adult patients with pneumococcal p...

Authors: Diana van Kessel, Thijs Hoffman, Heleen van Velzen-Blad, Bob Meek, Suzan van Mens, Jan Grutters and Ger Rijkers

Community-acquired pneumonia in the United Kingdom: a call to action

Pneumococcal disease has a high burden in adults in the United Kingdom (UK); however, the total burden is underestimated, principally because most cases of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) are non-invasive. ...

Authors: James Chalmers, James Campling, Gillian Ellsbury, Peter M. Hawkey, Harish Madhava and Mary Slack

Predictors of pneumococcal carriage and the effect of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccination in the Western Australian Aboriginal population

The 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) was introduced to prevent invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in Western Australian (WA) Aboriginal people in 2001. PCV13 replaced PCV7 in July 2011, covering...

Authors: Deirdre A. Collins, Anke Hoskins, Thomas Snelling, Kalpani Senasinghe, Jacinta Bowman, Natalie A. Stemberger, Amanda J. Leach and Deborah Lehmann

Pharmacologic inhibition of MEK1/2 reduces lung inflammation without impairing bacterial clearance in experimental Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia

This study was designed to test the therapeutic potential of a MEK1/2 inhibitor (MEKi) in an experimental model of Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia. The study found that treatment with MEKi reduced alveolar neutr...

Authors: Matthew E. Long, Ke-Qin Gong, William E. Eddy, W. Conrad Liles and Anne M. Manicone

Atypical bacterial pneumonia in the HIV-infected population

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals are more susceptible to respiratory tract infections by other infectious agents (viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungi) as their disease progresses to ...

Authors: Breanne M. Head, Adriana Trajtman, Zulma V. Rueda, Lázaro Vélez and Yoav Keynan

Necrotizing pneumonia: an emerging problem in children?

In children, necrotizing pneumonia (NP) is an uncommon, severe complication of pneumonia. It is characterized by destruction of the underlying lung parenchyma resulting in multiple small, thin-walled cavities ...

Authors: I. Brent Masters, Alan F. Isles and Keith Grimwood

Erratum to: Standardisation and evaluation of a quantitative multiplex real-time PCR assay for the rapid identification of Streptococcus pneumoniae

Authors: Feroze A. Ganaie, Vandana Govindan and K. L. Ravi Kumar

The evidence for non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae as a causative agent of childhood pneumonia

Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) was a major cause of bacterial pneumonia in children prior to the introduction of Hib-conjugate vaccines. The widespread use of Hib-conjugate vaccines ...

Authors: Mary P E Slack