Severe bronchopneumonia in the young child.

The majority of infants who develop infections of the lower respiratory tract respond satisfactorily to standard methods of treatment, with antibiotics, oxygen, humidity, and, when necessary, tube feeding (Simpson and Flenley, 1967; Disney et al., 1960; Heycock and Noble, 1962). A proportion, in our experience approximately 12%, fails to respond, and it is with this group that this paper is concerned. This figure is appreciably higher than the 1-4 * 6 reported by these authors and by Morrison (1955) and High (1957), since we are considering only those with x-ray opacity in the lung fields at some time during the illness. We agree with Disney et al. (1960) and Heycock and Noble (1962) that it is not possible to separate off bronchiolitis from bronchopneumonia. Deterioration in the former is nearly always followed by the appearance of opacities in the lung fields before or after starting assisted ventilation.