PneumoniaPub Date : 2015-09-01DOI: 10.15172/pneu.2015.6/648
K. Meyer, J. Bierach, J. Kanne, J. Torrealba, N. D. de Oliveira
{"title":"Acute fibrinous and organising pneumonia following lung transplantation is associated with severe allograft dysfunction and poor outcome: a case series","authors":"K. Meyer, J. Bierach, J. Kanne, J. Torrealba, N. D. de Oliveira","doi":"10.15172/pneu.2015.6/648","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15172/pneu.2015.6/648","url":null,"abstract":"Acute fibrinous and organising pneumonia (AFOP) is a histopathologic variant of acute lung injury that has been associated with infection and inflammatory disorders and has been reported as a complication of lung transplantation. A retrospective chart review was performed for all patients transplanted at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics from January 1995 to December 2013 (n = 561). We identified 6 recipients whose clinical course was complicated by AFOP. All recipients were found to have AFOP on lung biopsy or at post-mortem examination, and 5 of the 6 patients suffered progressive allograft dysfunction that led to fatal outcome. Only 1 of the 6 patients stabilised with augmented immunosuppression and had subsequent improvement and stabilisation of allograft function. We could not clearly identify any specific cause of AFOP, such as drug toxicity or infection. Lung transplantation can be complicated by lung injury with an AFOP pattern on histopathologic examination of lung biopsy specimens. The presence of an AFOP pattern was associated with irreversible decline in lung function that was refractory to therapeutic interventions in 5 of our 6 cases and was associated with severe allograft dysfunction and death in these 5 individuals. AFOP should be considered as a potential diagnosis when lung transplant recipients develop progressive decline in lung function that is consistent with a clinical diagnosis of chronic lung allograft dysfunction.","PeriodicalId":45120,"journal":{"name":"Pneumonia","volume":"6 1","pages":"67 - 76"},"PeriodicalIF":6.8,"publicationDate":"2015-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.15172/pneu.2015.6/648","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67245294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PneumoniaPub Date : 2015-08-25DOI: 10.15172/pneu.2015.6/559
Feroze A. Ganaie, V. Govindan, Ravi Kumar
{"title":"Standardisation and evaluation of a quantitative multiplex real-time PCR assay for the rapid identification of Streptococcus pneumoniae","authors":"Feroze A. Ganaie, V. Govindan, Ravi Kumar","doi":"10.15172/pneu.2015.6/559","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15172/pneu.2015.6/559","url":null,"abstract":"Rapid diagnosis of Streptococcus pneumoniae can play a significant role in decreasing morbidity and mortality of infection. The accurate diagnosis of pneumococcal disease is hampered by the difficulties in growing the isolates from clinical specimens and also by misidentification. Molecular methods have gained popularity as they offer improvement in the detection of causative pathogens with speed and ease. The present study aims at validating and standardising the use of 4 oligonucleotide primer-probe sets (pneumolysin [ply], autolysin [lytA], pneumococcal surface adhesion A [psaA] and Spn9802 [DNA fragment]) in a single-reaction mixture for the detection and discrimination of S. pneumoniae. Here, we validate a quantitative multiplex real-time PCR (qmPCR) assay with a panel consisting of 43 S. pneumoniae and 29 non-pneumococcal isolates, 20 culture positive, 26 culture negative and 30 spiked serum samples. A standard curve was obtained using S. pneumoniae ATCC 49619 strain and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) gene was used as an endogenous internal control. The experiment showed high sensitivity with lower limit of detection equivalent to 4 genome copies/µl. The efficiency of the reaction was 100% for ply, lytA, Spn9802 and 97% for psaA. The test showed sensitivity and specificity of 100% with culture isolates and serum specimens. This study demonstrates that qmPCR analysis of sera using 4 oligonucleotide primers appears to be an appropriate method for the genotypic identification of S. pneumoniae infection.","PeriodicalId":45120,"journal":{"name":"Pneumonia","volume":"6 1","pages":"57 - 66"},"PeriodicalIF":6.8,"publicationDate":"2015-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.15172/pneu.2015.6/559","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67245265","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PneumoniaPub Date : 2015-08-21DOI: 10.15172/pneu.2015.6/636
A. Chang, H. Smith-Vaughan, T. Sloots, P. Valery, D. Whiley, J. Beissbarth, P. Torzillo
{"title":"Upper airway viruses and bacteria detection in clinical pneumonia in a population with high nasal colonisation do not relate to clinical signs","authors":"A. Chang, H. Smith-Vaughan, T. Sloots, P. Valery, D. Whiley, J. Beissbarth, P. Torzillo","doi":"10.15172/pneu.2015.6/636","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15172/pneu.2015.6/636","url":null,"abstract":"Indigenous Australian children have high (up to 90%) rates of nasopharyngeal microbial colonisation and of hospitalisation for pneumonia. In Indigenous children hospitalised with pneumonia in Central Australia, we describe the nasopharyngeal detection of viruses and bacteria and assessed whether their presence related to signs of pneumonia (tachypnoea and/or chest in-drawing) on hospital admission and during subsequent days. Nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) and data were prospectively collected from 145 children (median age = 23.5 months, interquartile range [IQR] 8.7–50) hospitalised with pneumonia at Alice Springs Hospital, Australia, between April 2001 and July 2002. The cohort was enrolled in a randomised controlled study using zinc and/or vitamin A supplementation. NPS were taken within 24 hours of hospitalisation and kept frozen at-80°C until analysed in 2014. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect Moraxella catarrhalis, Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Chlamydophila pneumoniae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and 16 respiratory viruses. Uni- and multi-variate analyses were used to examine the relationships. One or more organisms were present in 137 (94.5%) NPS; 133 (91.7%) detected ≥ 1 bacterium, 34 (37.2%) for ≥ 1 virus and 50 (34.5%) were positive for both viruses and bacteria. C. pneumoniae (n = 3) and M. pneumoniae (n = 2) were rare. In multi-variate analyses, age < 12 months (odds ratio [OR] 6.6 [95% confidence interval {CI} 1.7–25.4]) and fever (OR 4.1 [95% CI 1.7–10.4]) were associated with tachypnoea and chest in-drawing. However the presence of bacteria and/or virus type was not associated with tachypnoea and/or chest in-drawing on admission or during recovery. In children with high nasopharyngeal microbial colonisation rates, the utility of NPS in determining the diagnosis of clinical pneumonia or duration of tachypnoea or in-drawing is likely limited. Larger cohort and case-control studies are required to confirm our findings.","PeriodicalId":45120,"journal":{"name":"Pneumonia","volume":"6 1","pages":"48 - 56"},"PeriodicalIF":6.8,"publicationDate":"2015-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.15172/pneu.2015.6/636","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67245060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PneumoniaPub Date : 2015-08-18DOI: 10.15172/pneu.2015.6/690
Simone M C Spoorenberg, Stefan M T Vestjens, W. Albrich, G. Rijkers
{"title":"Corticosteroids for all adult patients with community-acquired pneumonia?","authors":"Simone M C Spoorenberg, Stefan M T Vestjens, W. Albrich, G. Rijkers","doi":"10.15172/pneu.2015.6/690","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15172/pneu.2015.6/690","url":null,"abstract":"Corticosteroid therapy as adjunctive treatment in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a promising but controversial subject. The potentially beneficial effect of corticosteroids is based on the ability of steroids to dampen an excessive inflammatory response that often occurs in patients with CAP. This excessive inflammatory response can cause damage to the lungs and other organs, and is associated with poor outcome.","PeriodicalId":45120,"journal":{"name":"Pneumonia","volume":"6 1","pages":"44 - 47"},"PeriodicalIF":6.8,"publicationDate":"2015-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.15172/pneu.2015.6/690","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67245680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PneumoniaPub Date : 2015-06-29DOI: 10.15172/pneu.2015.6/520
M. Slack
{"title":"A review of the role of Haemophilus influenzae in community-acquired pneumonia","authors":"M. Slack","doi":"10.15172/pneu.2015.6/520","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15172/pneu.2015.6/520","url":null,"abstract":"In an era when Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) conjugate vaccine is widely used, the incidence of Hib as a cause of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) has dramatcally declined. Non-typeable H. influenzae (NTHi) strains and, occasionally, other encapsulated serotypes of H. influenzae are now the cause of the majority of invasive H. influenzae infectons, including bacteraemic CAP. NTHi have long been recognised as an important cause of lower respiratory tract infecton, including pneumonia, in adults, especially those with underlying diseases. The role of NTHi as a cause of non-bacteraemic CAP in children is less clear. In this review the evidence for the role of NTHi and capsulated strains of H. influenzae will be examined.","PeriodicalId":45120,"journal":{"name":"Pneumonia","volume":"6 1","pages":"26 - 43"},"PeriodicalIF":6.8,"publicationDate":"2015-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.15172/pneu.2015.6/520","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67244970","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PneumoniaPub Date : 2015-06-29DOI: 10.15172/pneu.2015.6/542
M. Cha, Il-Han Kim
{"title":"Decreased serum level of thioredoxin 1 in female patients with pneumonia and its combinational use with haptoglobin for the specific diagnoses of pneumonia and lung cancer","authors":"M. Cha, Il-Han Kim","doi":"10.15172/pneu.2015.6/542","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15172/pneu.2015.6/542","url":null,"abstract":"Thioredoxin 1 (Trx1) and haptoglobin (Hp) are known to be involved in pathophysiology. This study was conducted to evaluate their diagnostic significance. We employed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to determine the concentrations of both Trx1 and Hp in sera from female patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and those with lung cancer. The Trx1 levels remarkably decreased in cases of female patients with CAP, while the Hp levels increased in both female patients with lung cancer and CAP. In addition, the serum levels of Trx1 were not significantly changed in patients with lung cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and cardiovascular diseases compared to healthy controls. At the cut-off point of 0.396 at A450 nm on the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, Trx1 could discriminate between patients with CAP from normal female controls with a sensitivity of 72.5%, a specificity of 89.8%, and area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.877 ± 0.040. The serum levels of Trx1 in female CAP patients were inversely correlated with the levels of Hp (p < 0.05). The characteristic reduction in serum Trx1 levels, especially in female CAP patients, indicates that Trx1 could be used as a diagnostic marker for CAP. The advantage of serum Trx1 over Hp in discriminating female CAP patients among female patients who have a positive serum level of Hp suggests the use of Trx1 as an excellent combination marker with Hp for the specific diagnosis of CAP and lung carcinoma, because serum Hp levels increase in female patients with lung cancer and those with CAP without selectivity.","PeriodicalId":45120,"journal":{"name":"Pneumonia","volume":"6 1","pages":"18 - 25"},"PeriodicalIF":6.8,"publicationDate":"2015-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.15172/pneu.2015.6/542","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67245045","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PneumoniaPub Date : 2014-12-01DOI: 10.15172/pneu.2014.5/515
J. Räsänen, N. Gavriely
{"title":"Childhood Pneumonia Screener: a concept","authors":"J. Räsänen, N. Gavriely","doi":"10.15172/pneu.2014.5/515","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15172/pneu.2014.5/515","url":null,"abstract":"Childhood pneumonia continues to be the number one cause of death in children under five years of age in developing countries. In addition to mortality, pneumonia constitutes an enormous economic and social burden because late diagnosis is associated with high cost of treatment and often leads to chronic health problems. There are several bottlenecks in developing countries in the case flow of a child with lung infection: 1) recognising the symptoms as a reason to seek care, 2) getting the patient to a first-tier health facility, 3) scarcity of trained healthcare personnel who can diagnose the condition and its severity, 4) access to a second-tier facility in severe cases. These factors are commonly present in rural areas but even in more urban settings, access to a physician is often delayed. The Childhood Pneumonia Screener project aims at bridging the diagnostic gap using emerging technology. Mobile “smart” phone communication with several inexpensive dedicated sensors is proposed as a rapid data-collection and transmission unit that is connected to a central location where trained personnel assisted by sophisticated signal processing algorithms, evaluate the data and determine if the child is likely to have pneumonia and what the level and urgency of care should be.","PeriodicalId":45120,"journal":{"name":"Pneumonia","volume":"5 1","pages":"52 - 58"},"PeriodicalIF":6.8,"publicationDate":"2014-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.15172/pneu.2014.5/515","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67244785","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PneumoniaPub Date : 2014-12-01DOI: 10.1007/BF03399438
C. Chewapreecha, S. Harris, N. Croucher, C. Turner, L. Cheng, A. Pessia, D. Aanensen, -. S.J.Salt, er, A. Mather, A. Page, D. Harris, F. Nosten, J. Corander, J. Parkhill, P. Turner, S. Bentley, D. Bogaert
{"title":"Pneumococcal colonization and carriage","authors":"C. Chewapreecha, S. Harris, N. Croucher, C. Turner, L. Cheng, A. Pessia, D. Aanensen, -. S.J.Salt, er, A. Mather, A. Page, D. Harris, F. Nosten, J. Corander, J. Parkhill, P. Turner, S. Bentley, D. Bogaert","doi":"10.1007/BF03399438","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03399438","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45120,"journal":{"name":"Pneumonia","volume":"3 1","pages":"5 - 60"},"PeriodicalIF":6.8,"publicationDate":"2014-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1007/BF03399438","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"52101320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PneumoniaPub Date : 2014-12-01DOI: 10.1007/BF03399442
S. Dawid, T. Kochan, W. Wholey, N. LaCross, R. Mostowy, N. Croucher, C. Chewapreecha, S. Salter, P. Turner, C. Turner, L. Po, X. Didelot
{"title":"The Promiscuous Pneumococcus---Evolution and Biology","authors":"S. Dawid, T. Kochan, W. Wholey, N. LaCross, R. Mostowy, N. Croucher, C. Chewapreecha, S. Salter, P. Turner, C. Turner, L. Po, X. Didelot","doi":"10.1007/BF03399442","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03399442","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45120,"journal":{"name":"Pneumonia","volume":"34 1","pages":"122 - 138"},"PeriodicalIF":6.8,"publicationDate":"2014-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1007/BF03399442","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"52101392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}