phenylephrine-hydrochloride and Pneumonia--Pneumococcal

A double-blind controlled trial of a 14-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine was carried out in 11 958 adults at Tari in the Papua New Guinea Highlands. Pneumococcal infection, confirmed by blood-culture and lung aspirate, was less in the vaccinated group by 84%. Mortality from pneumonia was less by 44%.

Topics: Adult; Antibodies, Bacterial; Bacterial Vaccines; Clinical Trials as Topic; Evaluation Studies as Topic; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Lung; New Guinea; Nose; Pneumonia, Pneumococcal; Polysaccharides, Bacterial; Sepsis; Sputum; Streptococcus pneumoniae

Colonization of the upper respiratory tract with

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Animals; Cytokines; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Humans; Kinetics; Mice; Middle Aged; Neutrophils; Nose; Pneumococcal Infections; Pneumococcal Vaccines; Pneumonia, Pneumococcal; Respiratory System; Saliva; Streptococcus pneumoniae; Young Adult

Pneumococcal colonisation is regarded as a pre-requisite for developing pneumococcal disease. In children previous studies have reported pneumococcal colonisation to be a symptomatic event and described a relationship between symptom severity/frequency and colonisation density. The evidence for this in adults is lacking in the literature. This study uses the experimental human pneumococcal challenge (EHPC) model to explore whether pneumococcal colonisation is a symptomatic event in healthy adults.. Healthy participants aged 18-50 were recruited and inoculated intra-nasally with either Streptococcus pneumoniae (serotypes 6B, 23F) or saline as a control. Respiratory viral swabs were obtained prior to inoculation. Nasal and non-nasal symptoms were then assessed using a modified Likert score between 1 (no symptoms) to 7 (cannot function). The rate of symptoms reported between the two groups was compared and a correlation analysis performed.. Data from 54 participants were analysed. 46 were inoculated with S. pneumoniae (29 with serotype 6B, 17 with serotype 23F) and 8 received saline (control). In total, 14 became experimentally colonised (30.4%), all of which were inoculated with serotype 6B. There was no statistically significant difference in nasal (p = 0.45) or non-nasal symptoms (p = 0.28) between the inoculation group and the control group. In those who were colonised there was no direct correlation between colonisation density and symptom severity. In the 22% (12/52) who were co-colonised, with pneumococcus and respiratory viruses, there was no statistical difference in either nasal or non-nasal symptoms (virus positive p = 0.74 and virus negative p = 1.0).. Pneumococcal colonisation using the EHPC model is asymptomatic in healthy adults, regardless of pneumococcal density or viral co-colonisation.

Topics: Adult; Female; Healthy Volunteers; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Nasal Mucosa; Nasal Provocation Tests; Nose; Pneumococcal Infections; Pneumonia, Pneumococcal; Serogroup; Streptococcus pneumoniae; Symptom Assessment

We performed a prospective observational cohort study of the epidemiology and etiology of nosocomial pneumonia in 358 medical ICU patients in two university-affiliated hospitals. Protected bronchoscopic techniques (protected specimen brush and bronchoalveolar lavage) were used for diagnosis to minimize misclassification. Risk factors for ventilator-associated pneumonia were identified using multiple logistic regression analysis. Twenty-eight cases of pneumonia occurred in 358 patients for a cumulative incidence of 7.8% and incidence rates of 12.5 cases per 1, 000 patient days and 20.5 cases per 1,000 ventilator days. Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Hemophilus species made up 65% of isolates from the lower respiratory tract, whereas only 12.5% of isolates were enteric gram-negative bacilli. Daily surveillance cultures of the nares, oropharynx, trachea, and stomach demonstrated that tracheal colonization preceded ventilator-associated pneumonia in 93.5%, whereas gastric colonization preceded tracheal colonization for only four of 31 (13%) eventual pathogens. By multiple logistic regression, independent risk factors for ventilator- associated pneumonia were admission serum albumin <= 2.2 g/dl (odds ratio [OR] 5.9; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.0-17.6; p = 0.0013), maximum positive end-expiratory pressure >= 7.5 cm H2O (OR, 4.6; 95% CI, 1.4 to 15.1; p = 0.012), absence of antibiotic therapy (OR, 6.7; 95% CI, 1.8 to 25.3; p = 0.0054), colonization of the upper respiratory tract by respiratory gram-negative bacilli (OR, 3.4; 95% CI, 1.1 to 10.1; p = 0.028), pack-years of smoking (OR, 2.3 for 50 pack-years; 95% CI, 1. 2 to 4.2; p = 0.012), and duration of mechanical ventilation (OR, 3. 4 for 14 d; 95% CI, 1.5 to 7.8; p = 0.0044). Several of these risk factors for ventilator-associated pneumonia appear amenable to intervention.

Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Bronchoalveolar Lavage; Bronchoscopes; Bronchoscopy; Cohort Studies; Confidence Intervals; Critical Care; Cross Infection; Enterobacteriaceae; Enterobacteriaceae Infections; Haemophilus Infections; Humans; Incidence; Logistic Models; Nose; Odds Ratio; Oropharynx; Pneumonia, Bacterial; Pneumonia, Pneumococcal; Pneumonia, Staphylococcal; Positive-Pressure Respiration; Prospective Studies; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Pseudomonas Infections; Risk Factors; Serum Albumin; Smoking; Stomach; Tennessee; Time Factors; Trachea; Ventilators, Mechanical

IgA-antibodies to pneumococcal antigens were measured by enzyme immunoassay in saliva and nasal washings, obtained from 32 children aged 6 months to 14 years with acute pneumonia and from 25 healthy children aged 2.5-11 years. In the secretions of children with acute pneumonia an essential increase in the levels of IgA-antibodies in comparison with those observed in healthy children was detected. The levels of antibodies to pneumococci in saliva and in nasal washings were in direct correlation. These data are indicative of a protective role played, probably, by secretory antibodies at the portals of infection in pneumococcal pneumonia.

Topics: Acute Disease; Adolescent; Antibodies, Bacterial; Child; Child, Preschool; Convalescence; Humans; Immunoenzyme Techniques; Immunoglobulin A, Secretory; Infant; Mucus; Nose; Pneumonia, Pneumococcal; Saliva; Streptococcus pneumoniae