Bronchopneumonia in Adolescence

The information which we possess in regard to bronchopneu-monia chiefly concerns that disease as it is seen either in young children or in adults of advanced years. There is little information regarding the clinical, roentgenographic, and laboratory findings of this disease as it occurs in adolescents. Lord3 considers that primary bronchopneumonia is a disease usually seen in patients younger than four years; and the secondary bronchopneumonia which follows measles, diphtheria, whooping-cough, etc. is, of course, common only in childhood; he also mentions that bronchitis following a cold may lead to bronchopneumonia. The term "bronchopneumonia" is used in this paper to refer to those acute pulmonary infections of unknown etiology which occur in adolescence. In many instances the distribution of the pulmonary pathology is evidently lobar, but to refer to these illnesses as lobar pneumonia would only tend to confuse them with that very different clinical entity, pneumococcus lobar pneumonia. Such conditions as epidemic hemolytic streptococcus pneumonia and tuberculous bronchopneumonia are not considered in this study. It is our opinion that these acute pulmonary infections, which are usually associated with an infection of the upper respiratory tract, are much more prevalent than is usually appreciated, and that frequently illnesses which are diagnosed as "grippe" or "acute bronchitis" may in reality be bronchopneumonia. The frequency with which this disease is accompanied by only a slight degree of malaise and very obscure physical signs could readily explain errors in diagnosis. During the past two years we have had the opportunity of caring for a group of boys in a preparatory school infirmary where laboratory and roentgenographic facilities are available. This report describes the clinical data and the roentgenographic and laboratory findings in 16 cases of bronchopneumonia. These cases were encountered in a group of about 350 boys of from 12 to 20 years of age during the school years 1932-33 and 1933-34, and raise a question regarding the probable incidence of this disease in adolescence.