Incidence of acute respiratory infections in children 2 months to 5 years of age in periurban communities in Karachi, Pakistan.
OBJECTIVE
To measure the incidence of acute respiratory infections and burden of respiratory pathogens in children aged two months to five years.


METHODS
Four periurban communities in Karachi were selected for the study. The children, identified with fever and cough during community surveillance at regular intervals, were referred to especially established study clinics. These children were diagnosed to have "no pneumonia", "pneumonia" and "severe pneumonia" as per IMCI guidelines. To identify the causative organisms, children with pneumonia and severe pneumonia were investigated with oropharyngeal swabs and blood culture.


RESULTS
Acute respiratory infection was seen in 5884 children during 1st February 2002 to 31st January 2003. Of these, 1097 children had pneumonia and severe pneumonia, with an incidence 440.3/1000 children per year for Acute Respiratory Infections and 82.1/1000 children per year for pneumonias. Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Klebsiella pneumoniae were isolated from 10.9%, 3.7% and 8.5% of oropharyngeal swabs respectively. Extrapolating from the results of this study, the total number of cases of pneumonias in children aged less than five years in Pakistan is estimated to be 213,116 per year due to H. influenzae, and 71,864 per year due to S. pneumoniae.


CONCLUSIONS
Incidence of acute respiratory infections in children varies in different communities and is a common cause of morbidity.
Nizami
Shaikh Qamaruddin
SQ
Department of Pediatrics, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi.
Bhutta
Zulfiqar Ahmed
ZA
Hasan
Rumina
R
D000208:Acute Disease; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000821:virology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019037:Urban Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*