Changes needed to pneumonia treatment guidelines: Study - Press Release issued by Aga Khan University.

Karachi -- July 02, 2020 (PPI-OT)

Following is the text of press release issued by Aga Khan University (AKU)

Quote

A new study by researchers at Aga Khan University has highlighted the need to improve ways to diagnose and treat pneumonia, a leading cause of death in children under five around the world. The Pakistan-based study, RETAPP, is the world's largest community-based assessment of the use or withholding of antibiotics in children with mild pneumonia.

Pneumonia is a lung disease caused by viral or bacterial infections. It is especially common in low and middle income countries like Pakistan where malnutrition is prevalent and vaccine coverage is low.

There are currently different views on the use of antibiotics for treating the disease. While global guidelines recommend the use of antibiotics, two leading infectious diseases societies in North America - the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene - advise against the use of antibiotics in young children with mild pneumonia.

RETAPP followed over 4,000 children and found that antibiotics needed to be given to 44 children diagnosed with mild pneumonia, under global guidelines, in order to prevent a single child from deteriorating. This raises the risk of antibiotic resistance among children who are not suffering from pneumonia.

Researchers noted that one of the primary symptoms to diagnose mild pneumonia in children - fast breathing - is not specific to pneumonia and can be seen with other illnesses such as fever and dehydration. This often leads to misdiagnosis or misclassification of the illness leading to antibiotics being used in too many cases.

"Resistance to commonly used antibiotics is a growing concern among infectious disease specialists and other physicians," says Dr Fyezah Jehan, the study's lead investigator and a specialist in paediatric infectious diseases at AKU. "Our findings lend weight to global efforts to reduce the unnecessary use of antibiotics by highlighting that we are yet to understand the symptoms of pneumonia."

Researchers also stressed the...