The Brazilian Journal of Infectious Diseases 2007;11(2):246-248. © 2007 by The Brazilian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Contexto Publishing. All rights reserved. Community-Acquired Pneumonia in the Childhood: Analysis of the Diagnostic Methods

Immunological assays such as CIE, LA, and Dot-ELISA were compared in order to diagnose community-acquired pneumonia. Serum, pleural fluid and urine samples were comparatively employed for bacterial antigen detection. Dot-ELISA proved to be an original and practical alternative procedure for detecting bacterial polysaccharide antigens from pleural fluid and/or concentrated urine samples, providing a rapid diagnosis for pediatric patients with community-acquired pneumonia. Key-Words: Community-acquired pneumonia, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, bacterial pneumonia, immunological methods. Community-acquired pneumonias (CAP) are associated with elevated rates of morbidity and mortality. Worldwide, about 4.5 million children younger than 5 years old are yearly affected by acute respiratory infections, and 80 % to 90 % of these cases are pneumonia [1]. Pneumonia has been defined as the presence of fever, acute respiratory symptoms, or both, plus evidence of parenchymal infiltrates on chest radiography. Even this definition overlaps somewhat with that of vira