Serious Lung Infections in Children Could be Predicted from Their Noses

The diagnosis and treatment of lung infections in children could be improved through clues offered by tiny organisms present in a child’s nose, according to new research. Children with respiratory infections have altered microbiome in their noses compared to healthy peers. Microbiome refers to the population of bacteria and viruses present in vast numbers in the body.//

This difference predicted how long children had to spend in hospital and helped spot those likely to recover naturally, potentially reducing the need for antibiotics.

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‘The microbiome profile in child’s nose could help predict the length of hospital stay and also act as a marker of infection severity in the child.’

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Researchers say the results also help explain why some children are more prone to developing infections than others and could be key to preventing serious lung infections.

Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs), including pneumonia and bronchiolitis, are a leading cause of death in under-fives worldwide. Symptoms include shortness of breath, weakness and fever.

Doctors from the University of Edinburgh worked with teams in The Netherlands to take samples from more than 150 children under the age of six hospitalized with LRTI. They compared these with samples from 300 healthy children.

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They found that the microbiome in the back of the nose and throat was related to that seen in the lungs, making it easier to understand and diagnose infections.

Children with LRTI had a different microbiome profile - including the types and amounts of individual viral and bacterial organisms - compared with the healthy children, experts found.

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These profiles could identify 92 per cent of children as being healthy or ill when combined with factors such as the child's age. This was true no matter what symptoms the child had.

Experts say this breaks with traditional thinking that symptoms predict whether either a virus or bacteria is causing the illness and could impact on a decision of whether or not to use antibiotics.

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The microbiome profile also helped the scientists predict the length of the child's hospital stay, a marker of infection severity.

Source-Eurekalert