UMMS Affiliation
Department of Pediatrics
Publication Date
2021-09-08
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Bacterial Infections and Mycoses | Diagnosis | Infectious Disease | Pediatrics | Pulmonology | Respiratory Tract Diseases | Virus Diseases
Abstract
The following is a concise review of the Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine Core reviewing pediatric pulmonary infections, diagnostic assays, and imaging techniques presented at the 2021 American Thoracic Society Core Curriculum. Molecular methods have revolutionized microbiology. We highlight the need to collect appropriate samples for detection of specific pathogens or for panels and understand the limitations of the assays. Considerable progress has been made in imaging modalities for detecting pediatric pulmonary infections. Specifically, lung ultrasound and lung magnetic resonance imaging are promising radiation-free diagnostic tools, with results comparable with their radiation-exposing counterparts, for the evaluation and management of pulmonary infections. Clinicians caring for children with pulmonary disease should ensure that patients at risk for nontuberculous mycobacteria disease are identified and receive appropriate nontuberculous mycobacteria screening, monitoring, and treatment. Children with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) typically present with mild symptoms, but some may develop severe disease. Treatment is mainly supportive care, and most patients make a full recovery. Anticipatory guidance and appropriate counseling from pediatricians on social distancing and diagnostic testing remain vital to curbing the pandemic. The pediatric immunocompromised patient is at risk for invasive and opportunistic pulmonary infections. Prompt recognition of predisposing risk factors, combined with knowledge of clinical characteristics of microbial pathogens, can assist in the diagnosis and treatment of specific bacterial, viral, or fungal diseases.
Keywords
COVID-19, imaging, immune compromise, molecular diagnostics, nontuberculous mycobacteria
Rights and Permissions
Copyright © 2021 by the American Thoracic Society. This article is open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License 4.0. For commercial usage and reprints, please e-mail Diane Gern.
DOI of Published Version
10.34197/ats-scholar.2021-0034RE
Source
Gross JE, McCown MY, Okorie CUA, Bishay LC, Dy FJ, Astudillo CL, Muhlebach MS, Abu-Nassar S, Chen DY, Hossain N, Wang R, Klouda T, Martiniano SL, Lenhart-Pendergrass P, Kirkby S, Ortenberg R, McSparron JI, Wang T, Hayes MM, Çoruh B. ATS Core Curriculum 2021. Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine: Pulmonary Infections. ATS Sch. 2021 Sep 8;2(3):452-467. doi: 10.34197/ats-scholar.2021-0034RE. PMID: 34667993; PMCID: PMC8518607. Link to article on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
ATS scholar
Related Resources
PubMed ID
34667993
Repository Citation
Gross JE, Dy FJ. (2021). ATS Core Curriculum 2021. Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine: Pulmonary Infections. COVID-19 Publications by UMass Chan Authors. https://doi.org/10.34197/ats-scholar.2021-0034RE. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/covid19/349
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Included in
Bacterial Infections and Mycoses Commons, Diagnosis Commons, Infectious Disease Commons, Pediatrics Commons, Pulmonology Commons, Respiratory Tract Diseases Commons, Virus Diseases Commons
Comments
Full author list omitted for brevity. For the full list of authors, see article.