News in brief: Snake found in inhaler; PPI use increases kids’ pneumonia risk; RACP wish list includes telehealth

Snake found in SABA inhaler A Queensland teenager is reported to have found a baby snake hiding inside her reliever inhaler. The hatchling managed to squeeze inside the blue plastic sleeve of the salbutamol...

Snake found in SABA inhaler A Queensland teenager is reported to have found...

pneumonia

LRTI rates fall by 30% in Indigenous infants but still a long way to go

Bacterial pneumonia hospitalisations in Indigenous infants in the NT have decreased by 30% in recent years thanks to pneumococcal 13-valent immunisation (PCV13), a new study shows. Rates of bacterial acute lower respiratory tract infections in infants have shown a significant...

Bacterial pneumonia hospitalisations in Indigenous infants in the NT have decreased by 30% in recent years thanks to pneumococcal 13-valent...

pneumonia

Audit highlights how COVID-19 in critical care differs from usual viral pneumonia cases

Emerging data from critical care units in the UK has provided details on the groups most at risk of severe disease from COVID-19, how it compares to pre-pandemic viral pneumonia and how those on the front line are managing patients. Information...

Emerging data from critical care units in the UK has provided details on the groups most at risk of severe...

pneumonia

Respiratory physicians among 51 doctor deaths from COVID-19 in Italy

At least five respiratory physicians are among the 51 doctors in Italy who have died as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In what is being described in the Italian media as the “white coat massacre”, respiratory physicians have been among...

At least five respiratory physicians are among the 51 doctors in Italy who have died as a result of the...

pneumonia

Autopsy shows what the lungs of coronavirus patient look like

Some of the first images of coronavirus affected lungs have been released from post-mortem examination of patients in China, showing high levels of viscous secretions in distal airways. The report, published on the Journal of Forensic Medicine, cover autopsies carried...

Some of the first images of coronavirus affected lungs have been released from post-mortem examination of patients in China, showing...

pneumonia

Respiratory disease rates appear higher at coal seam gas sites

Children living near coal seam gas extraction sites are more likely to be hospitalised for respiratory diseases than children in other areas, an Australian study has found. Queensland University researchers compared age-specific hospitalisation rates for almost 81,000 children living in...

Children living near coal seam gas extraction sites are more likely to be hospitalised for respiratory diseases than children in...

pneumonia

Timing is everything: study shows pre-op physiotherapy beats post-op

A single, 30 minute physiotherapy session delivered before major abdominal surgery can halve the risk of postoperative pulmonary complications including pneumonia. A randomised controlled trial comprising 441 adults across three hospitals in Australia and New Zealand tested the addition of...

A single, 30 minute physiotherapy session delivered before major abdominal surgery can halve the risk of postoperative pulmonary complications including...

pneumonia

Why macrolides are a must for CAP

There is now overwhelming evidence to add macrolides to beta-lactams in empiric treatment of community acquired pneumonia (CAP), an Australian respiratory physician says. Despite controversy over the use of macrolides in CAP...

There is now overwhelming evidence to add macrolides to beta-lactams in...

pneumonia

Respiratory infections an under-appreciated trigger for MI

Within the first seven days of experiencing lower respiratory infection symptoms, patients have a 17-fold increased risk of acute MI and, while that risk gradually decreases over time, it remains elevated up to one month after the infection has cleared,...

Within the first seven days of experiencing lower respiratory infection symptoms, patients have a 17-fold increased risk of acute MI...

pneumonia

PPI link to pneumonia unlikely to be causal

The link between pneumonia and proton pump inhibitors can be explained by confounding factors, according to new research published in The BMJ. The retrospective study involving three separate analyses and 160,000 new PPI users found that while a crude association...

The link between pneumonia and proton pump inhibitors can be explained by confounding factors, according to new research published in...

pneumonia

Bagpipe ‘lung’ proves to be fatal

An enthusiastic bagpipe player who developed hypersensitivity pneumonitis from fungi thriving inside the instrument, and eventually died from it, has highlighted the need for careful history-taking when exploring possible causes of the condition. Doctors at a hospital near Manchester, UK, described...

An enthusiastic bagpipe player who developed hypersensitivity pneumonitis from fungi thriving inside the instrument, and eventually died from it, has...

pneumonia

Procalcitonin of little value in bacterial pneumonia

Elevated procalcitonin levels in response to bacterial infection might help ‘lazy doctors’ when deciding on antibiotic treatment in patients hospitalised with community-acquired pneumonia but the test is no substitute for a competent clinical assessment, according to Professor Grant Waterer from...

Elevated procalcitonin levels in response to bacterial infection might help ‘lazy doctors’ when deciding on antibiotic treatment in patients hospitalised...

pneumonia

Treat pneumonia as a cardiovascular sentinel event: expert

An expert has urged respiratory physicians to change their approach to the way they manage pneumonia, especially post-pneumonia care. Dr Grant Waterer from the University of Western Australia told TSANZSRS16 delegates here in Perth that cardiovascular events were “much more common”...

An expert has urged respiratory physicians to change their approach to the way they manage pneumonia, especially post-pneumonia care. Dr Grant...

pneumonia

Houston we have a [pneumonia diagnosis] problem

The approach to diagnosing community-acquired pneumonia could be called into question after a new study suggests clinicians are getting it wrong in nearly a third of patients. The study of 319 people with a clinical diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) found...

The approach to diagnosing community-acquired pneumonia could be called into question after a new study suggests clinicians are getting it...

pneumonia

Pneumococcal pneumonia a risk factor for blood clots

Patients hospitalised with pneumococcal pneumonia are at an almost two-fold increased risk of blood clots and should receive prophylaxis treatment, experts from New Zealand say. Writing in an editorial in Respirology Lutz Becker from the University of Otago and Anthony Raman...

Patients hospitalised with pneumococcal pneumonia are at an almost two-fold increased risk of blood clots and should receive prophylaxis treatment,...

pneumonia

Gary Lee’s top tips for managing pleural infections

The "crime" of surgery for pleural infection is still happening across the world despite advances in management that have rendered surgery unnecessary delegates have heard. Speaking at a session on the advances and controversies in pleural medicine Gary Lee from Sir Charles...

The "crime" of surgery for pleural infection is still happening across the world despite advances in management that have rendered...

pneumonia

Age and gender of GP influences URTI treatment

Management of respiratory tract infections in primary care varies according to the age and sex of the general practitioner, a new study shows. Using data from the ongoing BEACH study the researchers from Monash...

Management of respiratory tract infections in primary care varies according to the age and sex of the general...