Funding outcome

Pneumonia is the most common cause of childhood deaths in the world today. Most deaths occur in Asia and Africa, but pneumonia is also a common reason that children in Canada are admitted to hospital. Getting the diagnosis correct is important because untreated pneumonia can be a fatal illness, and unnecessary use of antibiotics can fuel the spread of resistant bacteria. Doctors usually use a chest x-ray to make a diagnosis of pneumonia before giving antibiotic treatment However, chest x-rays are not available in some resource-limited areas of the world. Moreover, chest x-rays expose children to radiation. We are proposing to study new ways of diagnosing pneumonia, using proteins ('biomarkers') that can be measured in a blood sample. We have discovered some lead biomarkers that are associated with childhood pneumonia. Our objective now is to validate these biomarkers is a large group of children with pneumonia around the world. We enrolled children with suspected pneumonia from two pediatric hospitals in Uganda. Children were tested with a chest x-ray and a blood test at the same time. We will now measure a panel of biomarkers in their blood and compare biomarker levels in children with pneumonia to those without. Biomarkers that are strongly associated with pneumonia could be used as clues for doctors to diagnose pneumonia when a chest x-ray is not available. Our vision is to find and validate biomarkers that could be adapted to a bedside test for pneumonia that could be used in clinics or emergency departments in Canada, or in areas of the world where there is no chest x-ray available. A fingerprick blood test to replace the chest x-ray for pneumonia diagnosis would be a useful tool that could improve outcomes through better recognition of pneumonia, as well as reduce unnecessary antibiotic use in children who do not have pneumonia