Respiratory Infection in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
The respiratory system is the most frequently affected system in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admissions. Lower respiratory reserve in infants and children than in adults, and the close interaction of the respiratory system with other systems cont
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Simon Nadel (Ed.)
Infectious Diseases in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
Springer
Simon Nadel, FRCP St. Mary's Hospital London
UK
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Infectious diseases in the pediatric intensive care unit I. Communicable diseases in children 2. Pediatric intensive care I. Nadel, Simon 618.9'29 Library of Congress Control Number: 2007928821
ISBN 978-1-84628-916-3 ISBN 978-1-84628-917-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-84628-917-0 ©
Springer-Verlag London Limited 2008
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Foreword
Infectious diseases have always comprised an important component of the work of pediatric intensive care units. Historically, the need to provide respiratory support for children stricken by the epidemics of polio which affected many countries in the pre-vaccination era, led to the development of technology for ventilatory support. In the developed world, community-acquired infections, including septicaemia, severe pneumonia, meningitis and encephalitis remain important causes of intensive care admission in otherwise healthy children. In developing countries, malaria, septicaemia, and meningitis, and fulminant viral infections, such as Dengue, present major challenges to pediatricians working with limited resources. Of those patients admitted to pediatric intensive care units with noninfectious conditions, the development of hospital acquired opportunistic infections are an almost inevitable consequence of prolonged requirement for ventilatory support and vascular access. Patients undergoing intensive care for any length of time will invariably require investigation and treatment of nosocomial infections. With the specter of increasingly antibiotic resistant bacteria and fungi, all intensivists are faced daily with complex management problems of both primary and nosocomially acquired infections. It is not surprising, in view of the importance of infectious diseases as causes of pediatric critical illness and death, that research on the mechanisms involved
