Aetiology and Outcome of Community Acquired Pneumonia among Children at a Specialist Hospital in North -Central Nigeria

Pneumonia is the commonest and the most severe form of the lower respiratory tract infection. With increasing needs and dwindling resources, the knowledge
of the burden of disease in an area will be critical to health-care planning, resource mobilization and allocation of same. This study seeks to identify the
pathogens responsible for this devastating childhood disease so as to guide choice of anti-microbial and as such preventing the development of resistance
and wasteful spending. This was a descriptive cross sectional study of children aged < 18 years admitted with the diagnosis of Pneumonia at a tertiary health facility in Lafia North-central Nigeria from the 1st of January to the 31st of December 2019. We obtained relevant data using a standard pre-tested study proforma and analyzed using SPSS v.20.0

Results: Community acquired pneumonia accounted for 11.3% of the overall admissions and most of the children (94.3%) were below age five. Pneumonia
accounted for 19.6% of the overall mortality with a case fatality of 15.6%. Blood culture was positive in 33.1% of cases while Klebsiella sp. and Staphylococcus aureus were responsible for two-third (69.8%) of the pathogens isolated. Sensitivities were more to the Quinolones and the Aminoglycosides, while resistances were more to the Penicillin (Ampicillin and Amoxicilin). Community acquired pneumonia remains a common cause of under five morbidity and mortality with a positive blood culture in a third of cases. Klebsiella sp and Staphylococcus aureus were the leading pathogenic cause of pneumonia in this study. The Quinolones in addition to the aminoglycosides should be considered as the first line antibiotics in management of childhood pneumonia.