Response by Authors

✍ Scribed by Anil K. Agarwal; Rajesh Bhagat; Naresh Panchal; S.S. Thukral; Ashok Shah

• Book ID: 101271787
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 9 KB
• Volume: 27
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 8755-6863
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0496(199905)27:5<356::aid-ppul12>3.0.co;2-v

✦ Synopsis

Agarwal et al.

asserted that this 7-year-old girl suffered from chronic anaerobic infection of the lung. I would differ with that assertion. Based on the clinical description in the article, it would appear far more likely that this young lady suffered reactive airways disease. Recurrent episodes of wheeze, dyspnea, cough, mucoid expectoration associated with intermittent sneeze, and episodic rhinorrhea and postnasal drip are all quite consistent with asthma, perhaps triggered by viral upper respiratory infections. The chest X-ray and CT scan presented were more consistent with atelectasis than with consolidation. Culture of small colony counts of two different anaerobic organisms was more consistent with contaminant than pathologic organisms. Recovery with initiation of inhaled beclomethasone and salmeterol along with cromolyn sodium nasal spray also supported the conclusion that this child had asthma as the cause of symptoms and radiographic findings.