Childhood Asthma after Bacterial Colonization of the Airway in Neonates

In this cohort study of Danish children at high risk for asthma, colonization of the airway at the age of 1 month with Streptococcus pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis, Haemophilus influenzae, or a combination of these organisms, but not with Staphylococcus aureus, was associated with the development of asthma by the age of 5 years. Colonization of the airway at the age of 1 month with Streptococcus pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis, Haemophilus influenzae, or a combination of these organisms was associated with the development of asthma by the age of 5 years. Childhood asthma is commonly preceded by recurrent asthma-like symptoms (“recurrent wheeze”). 1 This very common phenotype may be due to early asthma or may represent self-limiting virus-associated symptoms, and there is little to differentiate between the clinical presentations of these two conditions. 2 Biopsy specimens from infants with severe recurrent wheeze and reversible airflow obstruction, even in the presence of atopy, have shown neither thickening of the reticular basal membrane nor eosinophilic inflammation, changes that are characteristic of asthma in later life. 3 Bronchoalveolar lavage in young children with severe recurrent wheeze has demonstrated increased numbers of macrophages and neutrophils but not of . . .