PHA-Exch> Severe pneumonia in children treatable at home-WHO

[Claudio Schuftan]

> From: Vern Weitzel < vern.weitzel at gmail.com>
> crossposted from: "[health-vn discussion group]" health-vn at cairo.anu.edu.au
>
>
> http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L0363306.htm
>
> Severe pneumonia in children treatable at home-WHO
>
> By Laura MacInnis
>
> GENEVA, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Treating children stricken with severe pneumonia
> at
> home, instead of sending them to hospital, could save scores of lives in
> poor
> nations, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.
>
> Citing a Boston University School of Public Health study it helped
> support, the
> WHO said that antibiotic pills given at home were as effective as
> injectible
> antibiotics against pneumonia, the largest killer of children under five
> years old.
>
> Every minute, four children die from the lung inflammation, which can
> range in
> seriousness from mild to life-threatening. Pneumonia acquired in hospital
> can be
> particularly virulent.
>
> Most developed-world cases of pneumonia develop from a viral infection,
> but in
> developing nations, where children are most affected, about 60 percent of
> cases
> are caused by bacteria that can be treated with antibiotics.
>
> Under current WHO guidelines, children with mild pneumonia are given oral
> antibiotics and more severe cases are referred to hospitals for treatment
> with
> antibiotics by injection.
>
> But in poor countries, families often cannot easily access hospitals, and
> many
> children die before they reach hospital or are too sick to be treated once
> they
> arrive.
>
> "In addition, children with severe pneumonia are vulnerable to infections
> as a
> result of weak immunity and could be at increased risk in crowded hospital
>
> wards," according to the United Nations health agency.
>
> It said it would revise its guidance this year in light of the research
> involving 2,037 children in Pakistan, which showed a treatment failure
> rate of
> 7.5 percent among children given drugs at home, compared to 8.6 percent
> among
> those in hospital.
>
> Some children with very severe pneumonia will still require injectible
> antibiotics in hospital, the study found.
>
> "The potential impact of these results is enormous," said Shamim Qazi, a
> medical
> officer with the WHO's department of child and adolescent health and
> development, who co-authored the study appearing in the Lancet medical
> journal.
> "Being able to treat children with severe pneumonia safely and effectively
> in
> their own homes would be of huge benefit to both families and health
> systems, by
> reducing the need for admission to hospital," Qazi said.
>
> A WHO spokeswoman said the oral antibiotic typically used to fight
> pneumonia is
> amoxicillin, a penicillin-based formulation also used for ear, bladder and
> other
> infections. Amoxicillin is produced by pharmaceutical companies including
> GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> and is also available as a generic medicine.
>
>
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