title: Epidemiology and etiology of pneumonia in children in Hong Kong.
abstract: The epidemiologic and etiologic features of cases of pneumonia among 1,740 children admitted to a teaching hospital in Hong Kong over a 3-year period were studied. Of the patients, 23% were < 1 year old and 69% were < 5 years old. The incidence of pneumonia requiring admission to the hospital was 6.4 episodes per 1,000 children per year for those < 5 years of age. The overall case fatality rate was 0.15% among patients who did not have severe underlying disease before contracting pneumonia. A bacterial etiology was confirmed by blood culture for only 2% of patients. However, culture of sputum or nasopharyngeal aspirates yielded predominant or pure growth of one bacterial agent in 17% of cases. Haemophilus influenzae was the bacterial agent most frequently isolated from nasopharyngeal aspirates or sputum, followed by Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus. Of the H. influenzae isolates, 38% were resistant to ampicillin. A viral etiology was proven in 9.1% of cases, and evidence of mycoplasmal infection was found in 3.8% of cases. Respiratory syncytial virus was the most frequently identified viral agent, followed by adenovirus and influenza A virus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin.
authors.forename: R Y
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.forename: A F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Tam
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Oppenheimer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006192:Haemophilus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D006193:Haemophilus influenzae; D006723:Hong Kong / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality; D011019:Pneumonia, Mycoplasma / Q000453:epidemiology; D011018:Pneumonia, Pneumococcal / Q000453:epidemiology; D011023:Pneumonia, Staphylococcal / Q000453:epidemiology; D011024:Pneumonia, Viral / Q000453:epidemiology