Erythromycin for PneumoniaA Troublesome Recommendation
1 Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences School of Medicine, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC
We read with interest the report by Ginsburg and associates (Pediatrics 64:283, 1979) on Haemophilus influenzae pneumonia. Viruses unquestionably cause the vast majority of pneumonias in children. Although the pneumococcus most certainly remains the most common cause of bacterial pneumonia, H influenzae type b should no longer be considered a rare or uncommon etiology. We have previously noted that H influenzae type b was the single most common bacteria isolated from blood, CSF, empyema fluid, or lung aspirates in a group of children with pneumonia over a five-year period in Hawaii.1




