Lack of Utility of Nasopharyngeal Swabs for Diagnosis of Burkholderia pseudomallei Pneumonia in Paediatric Patients

Pasco Hearn; Claudia Turner; Kuong Suy; Sona Soeng; Nicholas P J Day; Paul Turner

doi:10.1093/tropej/fmv109

Lack of Utility of Nasopharyngeal Swabs for Diagnosis of Burkholderia pseudomallei Pneumonia in Paediatric Patients

J Trop Pediatr. 2016 Aug;62(4):328-30. doi: 10.1093/tropej/fmv109. Epub 2016 Feb 13.

Authors

Pasco Hearn¹, Claudia Turner², Kuong Suy³, Sona Soeng⁴, Nicholas P J Day⁵, Paul Turner⁶

Affiliations

¹ Cambodia-Oxford Medical Research Unit, Angkor Hospital for Child, Siem Reap, Cambodia pascohearn@hotmail.com.
² Cambodia-Oxford Medical Research Unit, Angkor Hospital for Child, Siem Reap, Cambodia Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK Angkor Hospital for Children, Siem Reap, Cambodia.
³ Cambodia-Oxford Medical Research Unit, Angkor Hospital for Child, Siem Reap, Cambodia.
⁴ Cambodia-Oxford Medical Research Unit, Angkor Hospital for Child, Siem Reap, Cambodia Angkor Hospital for Children, Siem Reap, Cambodia.
⁵ Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
⁶ Cambodia-Oxford Medical Research Unit, Angkor Hospital for Child, Siem Reap, Cambodia Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

Abstract

Diagnosis of Burkholderia pseudomallei pneumonia in children is challenging. We investigated the utility of nasopharyngeal swabs taken from 194 paediatric patients on admission with radiologically proven pneumonia. Melioidosis was proven in 0.5% of samples tested and only in a third of those known to be bacteraemic with B. pseudomallei. It appears unlikely that culture of nasopharyngeal secretions is helpful to confirm B. pseudomallei pneumonia in paediatric patients.

Keywords: Burkholderia pseudomallei; melioidosis; nasopharyngeal swab; paediatric.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents / therapeutic use
Bacteremia / diagnosis
Bacteremia / drug therapy
Bacteremia / microbiology*
Burkholderia pseudomallei / isolation & purification*
Cambodia
Humans
Melioidosis / diagnosis*
Melioidosis / drug therapy
Melioidosis / microbiology
Pneumonia, Bacterial / diagnostic imaging*
Pneumonia, Bacterial / drug therapy
Pneumonia, Bacterial / microbiology
Radiography, Thoracic

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents