Role of viral and bacterial pathogens in causing pneumonia among Western Australian children: a case–control study protocol

Bhuiyan, Mejbah Uddin; Snelling, Thomas L; West, Rachel; Lang, Jurissa; Rahman, Tasmina; Borland, Meredith L; Thornton, Ruth; Kirkham, Lea-Ann; Sikazwe, Chisha; Martin, Andrew C; Richmond, Peter C; Smith, David W; Jaffe, Adam; Blyth, Christopher C

Pneumonia is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among young children globally. Recent estimates suggest that approximately 156 million new cases of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) occur each year with nearly 2 million deaths among children aged <5 years; most deaths occur in low resource settings [1] . The burden of childhood CAP in developed countries is lower (approximately 50 cases per 1000 children-years), however, CAP remains an important public health concern with increasing antibacterial resistance, evidence of replacement disease with non-vaccine strains, and emergence of new respiratory pathogens [1] [2] [3] . In Australia, CAP is an important cause of hospitalization of children with 2-8 hospitalisations per 1000 child-years for children < 5 years old [4, 5] . In Western Australia, the incidence is especially high for Aboriginal children who have been observed to be at 14 times higher risk of hospitalisation for CAP than non-Aboriginal children [6] .