title: The changing ecology of bacterial infections in children.
abstract: There is continued change in the organisms involved in commonly encountered infections. Although the major organisms have changed less in pediatric than in medical or surgical infections, the advances in neonatology and the chemotherapy of leukemia have resulted in cases in which infection with  once uncommon organisms is now commonplace. Perhaps more disheartening has been the increasing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. Since resistance patterns are so much a reflection of antibiotic usage patterns in an institution, each pediatrician must be aware of the species of bacteria and the resistance patterns of the bacteria isolated in his hospital, particularly in neonatal, intensive care, and burn areas where there is the highest use of antibiotics. Close interaction of pediatrician, diagnostic microbiology laboratory, and hospital epidemiologist can provide early clues to possible bacteria involved in infection, as well as suspected antibiotic resistance patterns.
mesh_terms: D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D002648:Child; D004463:Ecology; D006801:Humans