Staphylococcic (suppurative) pneumonia in infancy and in childhood and its surgical aspects.

UNTIL a few years ago pneumonia in childhood caused by the staphylococcus was regarded as nonexistent or was referred to casually in the literature as a variant with an extremely high mortality. The subject has recently received consideration by a number of authors, who have also stressed this high mortality. This increased interest in staphylococcic pneumonia probably can be ascribed to an increasing emphasis on etiologic diagnosis. It has become apparent that because of therapeutic considerations differentiation between the various types of pneumonia on an etiologic basis may be of greater import than that based on clinical or anatomic features. This communication is based on observations of 40 1 proved cases of bronchogenous staphylococcic pneumonia seen during a period of more than fifteen years. We have excluded from this study all cases of staphylococcic sepsis with metastatic pulmonary abscesses. We shall propose a concept of the pathogenesis, outline the pathology,