Acute Lower Respiratory Infections (ALRI

Acute Lower Respiratory Infections (ALRI

ICD-10 A49
Identification

Pneumonia
Symptoms: Cough or difficult breathing;
Signs: 50 or more breaths per minute for infants age 2 months up to 1 year, or 40 or more breaths per minute for children age 1 up to 5 years old; and no chest in drawing, general danger signs, strider in calm child or severe malnutrition.

Severe pneumonia
Symptoms: Cough or difficult breathing and
Signs: Chest in drawing and strider in a calm child or severe malnutrition.

Very severe disease
Symptoms: Cough or difficult breathing
Signs: General danger signs: unable to drink or breast feed; convulsions; abnormally sleepy or difficult to wake, strider in a calm child or severe malnutrition.
Infants below 2 months of age: Cases are classified as either “Severe Pneumonia” or “Very severe disease”, as the illness may progress rapidly in this age group and it may be difficult to differentiate “pneumonia” from other severe conditions requiring inpatient hospital management.

Infectious agent

Bacteria: the most common are likely to be Streptococcus pneumonia and Homophiles influenza (and Staphylococcus aureus to a lesser extent).