Bacterial infection in wheezy children.

Abstract

Objective: To determine the frequency of bacterial infection in children less than five years of age presenting with respiratory wheeze to Tertiary care centre. Study Design: Descriptive Case Series study. Setting: Department of Pediatrics, The Children’s Hospital and The Institute of Child Health, Multan. Period: November 2019 to April 2020. Material & Methods: A total of 130 children, presenting with respiratory symptoms were examined for presence of respiratory wheeze. After confirmation of chest auscultation, patients were enrolled. Information regarding duration of wheeze, axillary temperature, presence of chest in drawing and respiratory rate were recorded. Appropriate blood sample were drawn for total leukocyte count and differential leukocyte count from which absolute neutrophils count was calculated. Children were evaluated for the presence of bacterial infection as per operational definition. Results: There were 38 (29.23%) female and 92 (70.76%) male patients. Overall, mean age was13.17±5.49 with age range of 1-57 months. Bacterial infection was noted in 33 (25.38%) patients. Out of 130 patients presenting with wheeze, 50 patients (38.46%) had temperature range of 98.1-99⁰F. Absolute neutrophil count was more than 5000/dl in 42(32.30%) patients, out of these 33(78.6%) had bacterial infection. Chest X-rays were showing infiltrates in 110 (84.6%) patients. Conclusion: Children suffering from wheeze have bacterial infection if age is less than five years and there is fever, crepitations, elevated absolute neutrophil count and radiographic evidence of pneumonia.