Complicated community - acquired pneumonia caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae

Community-acquired pneumonia is one of the most common reasons for paediatric hospitalizations in the world and also in our country. Microbiological identification is challenging, since collection of respiratory samples in children is problematic in comparison to adults. Small proportion of children with community acquired pneumonia will develop pleural effusion or empyema. Common causative organisms are Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus. Complicated community-acquired pneumonia should be suspected in any child with pneumonia not responding to appropriate antibiotic therapy within 48-72 hours. New conjugated vaccines against Streptococcus pneumoniae have contributed to decreases in radiologic, clinical and complicated pneumonia cases and have reduced hospitalizations and mortality. We report a case of 10 – year old boy with complicated community-acquired pneumonia presented with pleural effusion and pericartidis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae infection.
Key words: streptococcus pneumonia