1. It is not clear why authors excluded children
with radiological evidence of consolidation and pleural effusion.
2. Though children with consolidation were
excluded, the results state that 63.9% children had infiltrates on
chest X-ray, which is a bit confusing.
3. The table titled ‘Frequency of organisms in
nasopharyngeal secretions in children with community acquired severe
pneumonia’ divides the patients in to ‘Home’ and ‘Hospital’. The
basis of such categorization is not clear from the methodology
whether they indicate the place of specimen collection or the type
of care the patients received.
4. Serotyping of the pneumococcal isolates could
have helped in vaccine development.
5. As the conjugate H. influenzae vaccine
is known to reduce the nasopharyngeal carriage of the organism [2],
the data on immunization status of the children would have been
interesting as many of these children might have received this
vaccine as per latest National Immunization Schedule.
6. Nasopharyngeal carriage of Pneumococcus in
children with pneumonia has been used as a surrogate marker for
invasive disease [3]. The data on treatment received by the children
and their outcome would have enlightened the readers about the
clinical utility of the isolates and their antibiotic,
susceptibility in the absence of a blood culture.
