STUDY THE INCIDENCE OF CHLAMYDIA PNEUMONIAE INFECTION IN
CHILDHOOD ASTHMA
Liu Gang, Liu Shiying, Wang Shuxin, Li Hongli, Jiang Zaifang, Yang
Yonghong
Beijing Children’s Hospital, Beijing 100045, China
Objective: Survey the relationship between acute
respiratory infection and asthma attack and the incidence of Chlamydia Pneumoniae (CP) infection
in childhood asthma.
Method: Questionaire on acute respiratory tract
infection and asthma attack were asked in 92 asthma children and their
nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs were cultured by comparatively
sensitive method. Results: The survey
of 92 asthma children showed that there were 84 (91.3%) cases in which the
first episode of wheeze was acute respiratory infection, 71(77.2%) cases
usually had acute wheeze symptoms after acute respiratory infection and
there were 48 (52.7%) cases in which the first time trigger and common
episodes trigger was acute respiratory infection. It demonstrated that
acute respiratory infection is still a possible risk factor for asthma
attack in children. Of 92 cases, 7 were CP positive cases and all these 7
patients had acute symptom when samples were taken. The CP infection rate
in asthma children with acute symptom (63) was 11.1%. 6 of 7 CP cases
belonged to the group that ARI was both the prime and the common factor in
triggering the onset of asthma (12.5%). One case was only 1 years old and was the youngest in 7
CP positive cases. We also found
CP inclusion in the bronchoalveolar lavage of this kid.
Conclusion: Our results showed that CP infection was
associated with acute wheezing attack of children with asthma; for the
cases in which the attack trigger factor was always acute respiratory
infection, CP infection should be considered. The role CP played in the
pathogenesis of airway chronic inflammation deserved further research.
Key words: asthma acute
respiratory infection Chlamydia Pneumoniae airway chronic inflammation