METHODS

Acute respiratory infections (ARI) resultin 1.9 million childhood deaths per yearin developing countries, 20 % of thesedeaths are from India(1). A review of 13 studies involving 835 lung punctures from hospitalized children, prior to administration of antibiotics reported bacterial pathogens in 55 % of patients(2-4). There is a paucity of studies in the Indian setting to find out incriminating bacterial agents in children. The bacterial etiology may also have changed over the recent past with increased immunization against Hemophilus influenzae B. Hence, our aim was to study the aerobic bacterial pathogens of acute lower respiratory tract infections in children and study their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern