The changes of prevalence and etiology of pediatric pneumonia from National Emergency Department Information System in Korea, between 2007 and 2014

Shin, Eun Ju; Kim, Yunsun; Jeong, Jin-Young; Jung, Yu Mi; Lee, Mi-Hee; Chung, Eun Hee

Pneumonia is the leading cause of hospitalization in developed countries and is associated with a high mortality rate worldwide. 1) The prevalence and mortality rate of pneumonia is particularly high in underdeveloped countries having poor healthcare resources and poor quality of sanitation. Understanding the incidence rate of pediatric pneumonia and identifying the pathogen for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) forms the basis for diagnosis, therapeutic treatment, and intervention. In a study of 154 children hospitalized for CAP in the United States, between January 1999 and March 2000, a period prior to the universal use of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), Michelow et al., 2) identified a bacterial pathogen in 60% of cases of pneumonia. The Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria strain was identified in 73% of bacterial pathogen. S. pneumoniae was a common pathogen of CAP at that time. 2) The causal pathogen of CAP was very different in a survey of children under the age of 18 years who were hospitalized for pneumonia in designated hospitals in southern and Western part of US, between January 2010 and June 2012, a period after the universal use of PCV. 1) In this latter survey, a viral or bacterial cause was identified in 81% of cases, with more than one kind of virus detected in 66% of cases. 1) An exclusive bacterial cause was identified in only 8% of cases, with both bacterial and viral causes identified in 7% of cases. Therefore, by 2012, viruses had emerged as more significant pathogens of pneumonia than bacteria.