Study Supports Home Care for Severe Pneumonia in Children (1/2)

The single largest killer of children under age five is pneumonia. This lung infection kills about two million children each year, mostly in developing countries.

In developed countries, most pneumonia cases are caused by viruses. But in the developing world, about sixty percent are caused by bacteria. These cases can be treated with antibiotic drugs.
The World Health Organization currently says children with severe pneumonia should be admitted to a hospital and given injectable antibiotics. But many poor families do not have the money for a hospital or live too far away.

Now, new research could lead to a change in that advice. A study in Pakistan found that children with severe pneumonia can recover fully at home taking antibiotics by mouth. The study is in the Lancet medical journal.

The W.H.O. and the United States Agency for International Development paid for the study. It was done in five Pakistani cities by the School of Public Health at Boston University. The research involved more than two thousand children between three and five years old. Half received intravenous antibiotics during a forty-eight-hour hospital stay. The others were sent home to take antibiotics for five days.

参考译文：

肺炎是导致5岁以下儿童死亡的一个最主要因素。这种肺部感染每年约导致200万儿童死亡，其中大部分在发展中国家。

在发达国家，大多数肺炎病例是由病毒引起的。但是在发展中国家，大约60%是由细菌引起。这些病例是可以用抗生素药物治疗的。

世界卫生组织说，目前患有重症肺炎的儿童应该被送入医院并且给予注射抗生素。但是很多贫困家庭没有钱就医，或者住的太远。

现在，新的研究可能使上述建议改变。巴基斯坦的一项研究发现，患重症肺炎的儿童可以在家通过口服抗生素而痊愈。这项研究刊登在柳叶刀医学杂志上。

这项研究由世界卫生组织和美国国际开发署投资，波士顿大学公共卫生学院在巴基斯坦的五个城市展开。该研究涉及2000多名3岁到5岁的儿童。半数儿童在留院48小时期间接受了静脉抗生素注射。其余儿童被送回家口服5日的抗生素。

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