Pneumonia

Pneumonia is the leading infectious cause of death in children under five years of age worldwide, and most of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. In these settings, frontline health workers diagnose pneumonia using the World Health Organization's Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) guidelines, which rely mainly on counting how fast a child is breathing and checking for chest indrawing. This approach has saved many lives, but it is not very specific. As a result, many children who actually have self-limiting viral illnesses that do not require antibiotics are nonetheless treated with antibiotics, contributing to the global rise of antimicrobial resistance. New digital stethoscopes paired with artificial intelligence (AI) can record a child's lung sounds and automatically detect abnormal sounds such as crackles and wheezes with accuracy comparable to physicians. The LaLeLa Lung Study will evaluate whether adding an AI-enabled digital stethoscope to standard IMCI assessment improves the accuracy of pneumonia diagnosis among children aged 2 to 59 months who present with cough and/or difficult breathing at a primary care clinic in Cape Town, South Africa. The main component (Objective 1) is a randomized, triple-blinded diagnostic accuracy study that will enroll 350 children, randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to either IMCI care enhanced by the AI-enabled digital stethoscope or standard IMCI care. An independent panel of physicians, blinded to the AI results and to study-arm assignment, will review each case and serve as the reference standard for determining whether pneumonia was truly present. The investigators hypothesize that IMCI enhanced by the AI stethoscope will diagnose pneumonia more accurately, and target antibiotics more appropriately, than standard IMCI alone. Nested sub-studies will additionally evaluate a second AI stethoscope for tuberculosis detection, a wearable lung-sound and respiratory-rate patch, an automated respiratory-rate monitor, and a smartphone-connected pulse oximeter. A separate component (Objective 2) is a mixed-methods implementation study at a second clinic that will assess how easily health workers can use these devices, how acceptable the devices are to health workers and caregivers, and how well the devices fit into routine clinic workflows. Throughout the study, all AI-generated results will remain concealed from clinic staff, study clinicians, and caregivers, so the AI-generated results will not influence the care any child receives. All children continue to receive standard IMCI care. Findings will help inform whether AI-enabled digital auscultation should be integrated into childhood pneumonia care in South Africa and similar low-resource settings, with the goal of improving diagnosis, strengthening antibiotic stewardship, and reducing antimicrobial resistance and child mortality.

The Hyper IgE Syndromes (HIES) are primary immunodeficiencies resulting in eczema and recurrent skin and lung infections. Autosomal dominant Hyper IgE syndrome (AD-HIIES; Job's syndrome) is caused by STAT3 mutations, and is a multi-system disorder with skeletal, vascular, and connective tissue manifestations. Understanding how STAT3 mutations cause these diverse clinical manifestations is critical to our complete understanding of bone metabolism, bronchiectasis, dental maturation, and atherosclerosis. Bi-allelic mutations in DOCK8 cause a combined immunodeficiency previously described as autosomal-recessive Hyper IgE syndrome. These individuals suffer from extensive viral infections as well as have a high incidence of malignancy and mortality. The pathogenesis of this disease and long-term natural history is being investigated. Therefore, we seek to enroll patients and families with a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of HIES syndrome for extensive phenotypic and genotypic study as well as disease management. Patients will be carefully examined by a multidisciplinary team and followed longitudinally. Through these studies we hope to better characterize the clinical presentation of STAT3-mutated HIES, DOCK8 deficiency and other causes of the hyper IgE phenotype, and to be able to identify further genetic etiologies, as well as understand the pathogenesis of HIES. We seek to enroll 300 patients and 300 relatives....

The FUNGAL-P study is a single-center observational study designed to derive and validate a clinical prediction score for the early identification of fungal pneumonia in adult patients presenting with pneumonia. The study includes a retrospective derivation cohort and a prospective validation cohort of patients undergoing microbiological evaluation of lower respiratory tract samples. Clinical, laboratory, radiological, microbiological, and treatment-related variables associated with fungal pneumonia will be analyzed to identify independent predictors of fungal infection. These predictors will be combined to develop the FUNGAL-P score. The derived score will subsequently be evaluated in a prospective validation cohort to assess its diagnostic performance, calibration, and clinical utility. The ultimate goal is to facilitate earlier recognition of fungal pneumonia and support timely diagnostic testing and antifungal treatment in patients presenting to the Emergency Department or hospital with pneumonia.

This clinical trial will evaluate the efficacy and safety of a single intravenous dose of agenT-797 administered in addition to standard of care (SOC), compared with placebo plus SOC, in reducing short-term mortality in adult participants with severe pneumonia and moderate to severe AHRF. All participants will receive SOC management for severe pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

The purpose of the study is to see if a ketogenic diet compared to a standard diet is better to maintain muscle function and health in hospital admitted pneumonia patients.

This study will examine the different types of proteins present in the lungs of patients with pneumonia to explore the causes of different types of the disease. Pneumonia is a condition that causes lung inflammation AND is often caused by an infection. It is usually diagnosed by lung x-rays and listening to the chest with a stethoscope. This method can diagnose pneumonia, but it does not provide information on the cause of the inflammation - information that might be helpful in guiding treatment. This study will measure proteins in the lungs of patients to see if certain proteins are associated with specific forms of pneumonia, and can thus serve as biomarkers for disease. Patients undergoing diagnostic bronchoscopy at the NIH Clinical Center may participate in this study. Patients will undergo bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage as scheduled for their medical care. For this procedure, the patient's mouth and throat are numbed with lidocaine; a sedative may be given for comfort. A thin flexible tube called a bronchoscope is advanced through the nose or mouth into the lung airways to examine the airways carefully. Saline (salt water) is then injected through the bronchoscope into the air passage, acting as a rinse. A sample of fluid is then withdrawn for microscopic examination. Researchers in the current study will use some of the fluid obtained from the lavage to examine for protein content. In addition to the bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage, participants will have about 2 tablespoons of blood drawn to compare blood test results with the results of the lung washings. Patients' medical records will be reviewed to obtain information on past medical history, current medical treatment, vital signs, and results of x-ray tests.

Serious acute heart and lung illnesses like heart failure, severe COVID, and sepsis often leave survivors struggling not only physically, but also with lasting depression, anxiety, and stress. These problems that are hard to treat because access to mental health care is often limited. To help address this, the researchers created Lift, a fully automated mindfulness program designed with patient input and delivered through a mobile app. The investigators now plan a large, multi-site study to test whether Lift improves mental health and quality of life over six months compared to a critical illness education program called Enlighten Recovery. Overall the goal is to make an easy-to-use, widely accessible program available to people across the U.S., including those who speak Spanish.

Pneumonia is the leading infectious cause of death in children under five years of age worldwide, and most of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. In these settings, frontline health workers diagnose pneumonia using the World Health Organization's Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) guidelines, which rely mainly on counting how fast a child is breathing and checking for chest indrawing. This approach has saved many lives, but it is not very specific. As a result, many children who actually have self-limiting viral illnesses that do not require antibiotics are nonetheless treated with antibiotics, contributing to the global rise of antimicrobial resistance. New digital stethoscopes paired with artificial intelligence (AI) can record a child's lung sounds and automatically detect abnormal sounds such as crackles and wheezes with accuracy comparable to physicians. The LaLeLa Lung Study will evaluate whether adding an AI-enabled digital stethoscope to standard IMCI assessment improves the accuracy of pneumonia diagnosis among children aged 2 to 59 months who present with cough and/or difficult breathing at a primary care clinic in Cape Town, South Africa. The main component (Objective 1) is a randomized, triple-blinded diagnostic accuracy study that will enroll 350 children, randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to either IMCI care enhanced by the AI-enabled digital stethoscope or standard IMCI care. An independent panel of physicians, blinded to the AI results and to study-arm assignment, will review each case and serve as the reference standard for determining whether pneumonia was truly present. The investigators hypothesize that IMCI enhanced by the AI stethoscope will diagnose pneumonia more accurately, and target antibiotics more appropriately, than standard IMCI alone. Nested sub-studies will additionally evaluate a second AI stethoscope for tuberculosis detection, a wearable lung-sound and respiratory-rate patch, an automated respiratory-rate monitor, and a smartphone-connected pulse oximeter. A separate component (Objective 2) is a mixed-methods implementation study at a second clinic that will assess how easily health workers can use these devices, how acceptable the devices are to health workers and caregivers, and how well the devices fit into routine clinic workflows. Throughout the study, all AI-generated results will remain concealed from clinic staff, study clinicians, and caregivers, so the AI-generated results will not influence the care any child receives. All children continue to receive standard IMCI care. Findings will help inform whether AI-enabled digital auscultation should be integrated into childhood pneumonia care in South Africa and similar low-resource settings, with the goal of improving diagnosis, strengthening antibiotic stewardship, and reducing antimicrobial resistance and child mortality.

The study is a prospective randomized controlled trial comparing the efficacy and safety of propofol-ketamine ("Ketofol") versus propofol monotherapy in geriatric ICU patients. Eligible participants are critically ill elderly patients with a history of cardiac disease who require endotracheal intubation and have not yet received sedation. The investigators focus on a specific population in which geriatric patients have different pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics and are more prone to side effects than other populations. Primary outcome: Incidence of hemodynamic instability (defined as hypotension requiring vasopressors), measured by mean arterial pressure (MAP) at baseline, during intubation, and post-intubation at 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30, and 60 minutes, then hourly for 24 hours.

Through a prospective randomized controlled trial, we systematically evaluate the effects of Yiqi Huoxue Jiedu Formula combined with bacteriophage therapy on the bacterial clearance rate, disease improvement rate and mortality rate in patients with severe pneumonia caused by drug-resistant bacteria, so as to clarify its clinical transformation value.

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn the formation and recovery rate of methemoglobin (MetHb) in severely sick patients with pneumonia who receive high doses of inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) therapy at 250 parts per million (ppm), not exceeding 300 ppm. Meanwhile, the benefits of the therapy to treat severely sick patients with pneumonia will be explored. Patients who are 18 years or older, newly diagnosed with pneumonia, and severely sick with requirement of a breathing machine could be included. The main questions it aims to answer are: How does methemoglobin change through the iNO treatment? Does iNO therapy increase the number of patients recovering from pneumonia? Researchers will compare iNO treatment to placebo, which means using the same device as the treatment group without delivering the study drug. Participants will: * Receive iNO treatment starting at 250 ppm, not exceeding 300 ppm, 40 min, every 6 hours, from day 1 to day 5 * Be followed up for 60 days

This is a multicenter real-world observational cohort study designed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of sulbactam-durlobactam in patients with carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) infections. Patients receiving sulbactam-durlobactam will be compared with those receiving other anti-CRAB regimens during the same period. The primary outcomes are 28-day all-cause mortality and clinical failure. Secondary outcomes include microbiological clearance, recurrence, length of hospital and ICU stay, duration of mechanical ventilation, and adverse events. To reduce confounding inherent in observational studies, propensity score methods, including matching and inverse probability weighting, will be applied. A nested therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) sub-cohort will be established to explore the relationship between drug exposure and clinical outcomes.

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether adding intrapulmonary percussion ventilation (IPV) to standard airway clearance treatment improves clinical outcomes in invasively mechanically ventilated patients with pulmonary infection. It will also evaluate the safety of IPV in this population and assess changes in lung ventilation using electrical impedance tomography (EIT). The main questions it aims to answer are: Does adding IPV shorten the duration of invasive mechanical ventilation compared with standard therapy alone? Does IPV improve regional and global lung ventilation? Does IPV improve clinical indicators, including oxygenation, lung mechanics, and pulmonary infection scores? Is IPV safe in mechanically ventilated patients with pulmonary infection? Participants will: Receive either standard therapy alone or standard therapy plus IPV Undergo serial EIT monitoring at predefined time points Receive routine clinical assessments and ventilator parameter monitoring during ICU stay Be followed until successful weaning, discharge, or completion of hospitalization

The goal of this observational study is to analyze the relationship between various biomarkers (GDF-15, MR proADM, and Presepsin) in patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) who also have Pneumonia and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and have received Influenza vaccinations. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Is there a significant correlation between the levels of these specific biomarkers and the clinical outcomes or inflammatory status of these patients? * How does Influenza vaccinations relate to the levels of these biomarkers in the context of ACS with comorbid respiratory conditions? Researchers will compare the levels of these biomarkers across the participant group to see if they can serve as indicators of the patients' health status or the impact of the vaccinations. Participants will: \- Undergo clinical assessment for Acute Coronary Syndrome, Pneumonia, and COPD. Provide medical history regarding Influenza vaccination status. Provide blood samples for the measurement of GDF-15, MR proADM, and Presepsin levels.

Pneumonia is a significant global and national health issue, particularly posing a notable threat to elderly population. Accumulation of sputum in pneumonia patients often results in impaired airway clearance, negatively impacting disease management and recovery. Clinically, nebulization therapy is widely employed to facilitate sputum clearance; however, evidence regarding the comparative effectiveness of different nebulized solution concentrations remains limited and inconsistent. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate and compare the clinical effects of nebulized solutions with various osmotic concentrations (3% hypertonic saline, 0.9% normal saline, 0.45% hypotonic saline, and distilled water) on airway clearance in patients with pneumonia. A randomized, double-blind controlled trial design will be used, recruiting 80 patients with pneumonia from a regional teaching hospital in northern Taiwan. Participants will be randomly assigned into four groups, receiving nebulized therapy four times daily over a period of seven days. This study outcome including the length of hospital stay, venous blood gas analysis, routine sputum examination, and arterial oxygen content. The findings of this the study are anticipated to provide evidence-based recommendations for the clinical application of nebulized solutions with different concentrations, aiming to enhance airway clearance efficiency, improve clinical care outcomes for pneumonia patients, and serve as a practical reference for healthcare professionals.

The purpose of this study is to learn about how well the 20-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (20vPnC) works against radiologically-confirmed community-acquired pneumonia (RAD+CAP) due to the 7 new serotypes (types of a bacteria called Streptococcus pneumoniae that cause pneumonia) included in 20vPnC vaccine. This study is seeking participants who: * are male or female ≥65 years of age. * are hospitalized with physician suspicion of community acquired pneumonia (CAP). * have pneumonia confirmed with imaging like a chest x-ray Participants will be asked to provide demographic and medical history information, and to provide a urine sample that will be used to test for pneumonia caused by specific strains of a bacteria called Streptococcus pneumoniae. We will compare the proportion of participants who have pneumonia caused by specific strains of the bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae and were previously vaccinated with 20vPnC with the proportion of participants who have pneumonia caused by something other than vaccine type Streptococcus pneumoniae and have been vaccinated with 20vPnC. Participants will actively take part in the study for about 1-2 days. Information on participant's illness and hospitalization details will be collected through day 30 of their hospitalization through medical chart review.

Develop an emergency PanorOmics Wide Association Study (ePWAS) for the early, rapid biological and pathophysiological characterisation of known and novel Infectious Diseases in adult patients presenting to emergency departments with suspected, acute, community-acquired respiratory infectious disease (scaRID). Phase 1 1. Develop an ED-ID biobank (named ePWAS-RID). Phase 2 2. Targeted research for the discovery of novel diagnostics, prognostics and therapeutics

Retrospective Analysis of Clinical Characteristics and Prognostic Factors in Hospitalized Pneumonia Patients from April 2023 to April 2026. Background: Pneumonia remains the leading cause of death from infectious diseases in adults worldwide, with an increasingly severe disease burden exacerbated by population aging and the frequent emergence of drug-resistant bacteria; in China, severe pneumonia accounts for a striking 13.58% to 20.05% of hospitalized cases. In recent years, shifts in the pathogen spectrum (e.g., COVID-19, influenza A) and patient demographic characteristics have posed new challenges for clinical management. However, existing studies mostly focus on single pathogens or specific populations (e.g., ICU patients), lacking systematic analyses of the full-disease course characteristics of general hospitalized pneumonia patients. Furthermore, in the post-pandemic era, the clinical phenotypes, treatment responses, and prognostic factors of pneumonia may have evolved, necessitating evidence-based support from real-world data. This study aims to conduct a retrospective analysis to clarify the epidemiological characteristics, etiological distribution, and prognostic factors influencing current hospitalized pneumonia patients, thereby providing a basis for optimizing diagnosis and treatment strategies.

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death in the UK, with over 35,000 deaths annually and most cases diagnosed at a late stage. Current screening programmes using low-dose CT scans target only high-risk individuals, missing around 30% of lung cancer cases, including many women and never-smokers. There is no simple, non-invasive tool to help triage patients with persistent respiratory symptoms who fall outside formal screening criteria. Inflammacheck® measures hydrogen peroxide and other breath biomarkers linked to airway inflammation and oxidative stress. Preliminary studies (VICTORY and ExPeL) have shown strong diagnostic performance for distinguishing lung cancer from other respiratory conditions. VICTORY 2 aims to validate and refine the AI model supporting Inflammacheck®, enabling accurate, rapid, and affordable triage for suspected lung cancer in NHS settings.

This study is designed to measure the correlation of hyperpolarized 129-Xe magnetic resonance imaging (129-XeMRI) in allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (allo-HCT) recipients at MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) who develop bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) or BOS stage 0p (pulmonary impairment not meeting the definition for BOS, defined below) and controls with chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD). The primary objective of the study is to correlate 129-Xenon measures of ventilation, gas exchange, and pulmonary circulation with spirometric and quantitative CT measurements. A secondary objective is to determine whether measurement of 129-Xe MRI characteristics in patients with BOS stage 0p can predict BOS progression 6 months after enrollment.

This is a prospective, multicenter observational cohort study involving approximately 2,700 patients, designed to delineate the natural history of pneumonia by tracking the complete clinical course and dynamic multi-omics evolution from the acute phase to recovery; the study aims to quantify severe conversion rates and mortality by comparing baseline characteristics, pathogen distribution, and immune response trajectories between severe and non-severe groups, ultimately revealing the underlying molecular mechanisms of disease progression and optimizing clinical risk stratification strategies.

Due to children's lower oxygen reserves and higher oxygen consumption, sedation can easily lead to respiratory adverse events such as hypoxemia. It has been reported that the incidence of hypoxemia during pediatric bronchoscopy is high, highlighting that hypoxemia in pediatric painless bronchoscopy is an urgent problem requiring a solution. High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) oxygen therapy delivers heated and humidified breathing gas with a precisely controllable oxygen concentration, at flow rates exceeding the patient's peak inspiratory flow, directly via unsealed nasal prongs. It is a simple, comfortable, effective, and non-invasive respiratory support method that has been widely adopted in clinical practice. However, the effectiveness of HFNC in pediatric sedation remains unclear. Therefore, this multicenter randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate whether HFNC can effectively reduce the occurrence of hypoxemia during sedated bronchoscopy in pediatric patients.

This upcoming case-control study aims to confirm the Lung Sliding Index (LSI), a new ultrasound score that measures how well the pleura moves, in various lung diseases. The study will check how well the LSI can tell apart different lung diseases (like pneumothorax, interstitial lung disease, COPD, pneumonia, and pulmonary edema), how it relates to signs of disease severity, and how consistent the results are between different operators who have received the same training. Secondary objectives include assessing patient and operator satisfaction and feasibility using validated Likert scales.

In North America, up to 5% of preschoolers develop community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) every year. Pneumonia is the second-leading reason for paediatric hospitalization in both Canada and the US; approximately 20% of children hospitalized with CAP may need intensive care, which can result in significant morbidity. Given this burden of disease, it is critical that CAP is managed appropriately. Specific therapy for CAP is dependent on microbiologic aetiology, as bacterial disease will improve with antibiotic treatment.

Monitoring of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) based on metagenomics analyses in pneumonia patients is critical for optimizing clinical diagnosis and treatment and improving clinical prognosis. This study is designed to ask the following key questions: 1. What is the microbiome maps of patients with severe pneumonia and mild pneumonia ? 2. How many pathogen resistance genes are carrying in severe pneumonia and mild pneumonia ? 3. What is the genetic diversity of key pathogens detected in severe pneumonia and mild pneumonia during 2019-2025?