ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses following questions. Does pulmonary bacterial coinfection occur in children with viral respiratory infections? Does the incidence of pulmonary bacterial coinfection depend on the primary viral pathogen? Does pulmonary bacterial coinfection reflect or affect severity of illness? Pulmonary bacterial coinfection may be more commonplace than previously appreciated in certain subsets of this sizable group of hospitalized children with viral respiratory tract infection. To evaluate the role pulmonary bacterial coinfection plays in children with viral respiratory infection, data were identified by searching Medline, PubMed, and the reference lists of the relevant published papers. Only papers in which pulmonary bacterial coinfection could be clearly differentiated from other sites of bacterial coinfection were utilized. Purists will challenge the basic diagnosis of pulmonary bacterial coinfection. The incidence of pulmonary bacterial coinfection in children hospitalized with a viral respiratory infection is difficult to ascertain, but is reported to vary widely from under 1% to 59%.
