Morbidity and mortality risk facts for acute respiratory infections less-than-5-years-old children

Abstract

Acute respiratory infections are among the ten main death causes in general population, and among the three first causes of death in less-than-5-years-old children.
In the genesis of the acute respiratory infections in pediatric ages, WHO/PHO point to several risk facts, as immaturity of the immunologic system, asthma and its complications. Among the most frequent infections are pneumonias, requiring treatment with wide spectrum antibiotics. If we add to that the asthma conventional treatment, usually including steroids, the results will be a ground favourable for the development of opportunistic bacterial infections. In that way, a vicious circle is established: respiratory infection-allergy- respiratory infection, allowing the installation of germs, than even if they are normal flora, when there is a decrease of systemic and local immunity, are able to colonize the respiratory system.
Metabolic diseases, like diabetes mellitus type I, help the emergence of infections secondary to hyper glycaemia, and the status of secondary immunodeficiency they provoke. There are individual facts associated to the acute respiratory infections, like age; frequency and seriousness are bigger in less-than- one-year-old children, especially in those lees than two months old, low weight at birth, lack of breastfeeding, undernourishment, recurrent respiratory infections, uncompleted vaccination scheme, vitamin A deficiency. Among the social facts related with the acute respiratory infections frequency and complications are overcrowding, ground floor in the house, parents with low scholarship, low or insufficient per capita income.