Kazi S Anwar
AIMST University, Malaysia
Biography
Globally, pneumonia remains the leading cause of child-death more than combined AIDS, malaria and measles. Of all H. infl uenzae strains causing pneumonia in younger children, non-Hib (Hia, Hic, Hif) and non-typeable strains have started replacing b signifi cantly. Of some exsiting factors, popultion characterisitcs, child-bearing/rearing practices, housing and sanitation status remain plusible in contracting childhood-pneumonia. Th is paper describes some of such factors towards developing pneumonia in Bangladeshi children requiring immediate attention to resolve. Nasopharyngeal-swabs taken from 277 under-fi ve years pneumonic children in Dhaka Medical College Hospital (not receiving >1 antibiotic) were streaked onto supplemented chocolate-agar. Isolated colonies were serotyped and antimicrobial susceptibility were performed. While the mean age was 1.41±1.4 years, no age-specifi c gender diff erence was revealed (p>0.16). Clinically,157 children (69%) had pneumonia (Pnm) and 70 (31%) had Severe Pnm (SPnm) having the predominant signs of chest in drawing (p<0.04) and stop feeding-well than Pnm (p<0.001). While disease severity, was not assoicated with age-groups of <2, 2.1-12 & 12.1-60 months(p=0.26) a gender diff erence was observed: younger boys had SPnm more than girls (p<0.03). H. infl uenzae were isolated from 35.7% children (81/227), vast-majority being non-typeable (87.7%, 71/81) and 13.3% Hib (10/81) but Hin-types was not associated with disease severity (p>0.10). However, disease-severity was signifi cantly associated with colustrumrejection( p<0.02), bottle-feeding (p<0.04), non-vaccination (p<0.03) and some soico-economic/houshehold factors, like: tinned-roof-house (p<0.04), parental smoking (p<0.01) and cooking indoor on charcoal/wood-fi re (p<0.02). It is imparative that the aforementioned socio-cultural bariers and neglected child-caring/rearing practices as we evidenced should immediately be addressed towards preventing children from pneumonia- a potential public health issue. Further studies in this area are strongly recommend for better clarifi cations.