Lancet 2020 09;396(10253):786-798
Department of Paediatric Respiratory Medicine, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK; National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial School of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK. Electronic address:
Complicated community-acquired pneumonia in a previously well child is a severe illness characterised by combinations of local complications (eg, parapneumonic effusion, empyema, necrotising pneumonia, and lung abscess) and systemic complications (eg, bacteraemia, metastatic infection, multiorgan failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and, rarely, death). Complicated community-acquired pneumonia should be suspected in any child with pneumonia not responding to appropriate antibiotic treatment within 48-72 h. Common causative organisms are Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus. Read More