ABSTRACT
Acute respiratory infection (ARI), chiefly in the form of pneumonia, kills an estimated four million children every year (Leowski 1986). A comprehensive review (Graham 1990) indicates that the severity of the disease rather than the incidence of infection explains the striking differences in mortality among various regions of the world. In developing countries, death rates from ARI are 20 to 50 times higher than elsewhere (WHO 1984). Since most pneumonia in these countries is believed to be of bacterial origin (Stansfield 1987), such deaths would be preventable if the disease were promptly diagnosed and treated with antibiotics according to standard case management protocols.
