In-silico immune cell deconvolution of the airway proteomes of infants with pneumonia reveals a link between reduced airway eosinophils and an increased risk of mortality

Charles J Sande; Jacqueline M Waeni; James M Njunge; Martin N Mutunga; Elijah Gicheru; Nelson K Kibinge; Agnes Gwela

Pneumonia is a leading cause of paediatric mortality word-wide. A recent study on the global burden of paediatric pneumonia conducted in seven countries found that viruses account for about 61% of all paediatric pneumonia infections, while about 27% of infection were attributed to bacterial pathogens, with RSV accounting for the largest etiological fraction of paediatric pneumonia 1 . More than 90% of the deaths that occur due to pneumonia in children under 5, occur in low resource settings, mainly due to the lack of paediatric intensive care facilities 2 . Very young infants especially those with comorbidities such as HIV and malnutrition have a poor survival prognosis following pneumonia infection. HIV-infected infants who develop a pneumonia infection are up to 10 times more likely to die from the infection than non-HIV infected children 3 , while those with malnutrition are more than 15 times more likely to die after admission 4 . The damage to the lungs caused by severe pneumonia appears to persist even after discharge from hospital, with recent estimates showing that post-discharge mortality in African children previously admitted to hospital with pneumonia being eight times greater than those discharged with other diagnoses 5 .