Pneumonia can cause acute respiratory failure and is a relatively frequent cause of death in infants and pre-school age children, many of which are apparently “unexpected”, in that the child may not have seemed severely unwell prior to the collapse/death.
Experts believe SIDS occurs at a particular stage in a baby's development and that it affects babies vulnerable to certain environmental stresses. This vulnerability may be caused by being born prematurely or having a low birthweight, or because of other reasons that have not been identified yet.
Pneumonia can be fatal for people in high-risk populations, such as infants and people with weak immune systems. Pneumonia can also be fatal due to complications such as sepsis or lung abscesses.
Sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) is a term used to describe the sudden and unexpected death of a baby less than 1 year old in which the cause was not obvious before investigation. These deaths often happen during sleep or in the baby's sleep area.
Neonatal pneumonia is lung infection in a neonate. Onset may be within hours of birth and part of a generalized sepsis syndrome or after 7 days and confined to the lungs. Signs may be limited to respiratory distress or progress to shock and death.
These four stages of pneumonia are congestion, red hepatization, gray hepatization, and resolution, respectively.
Bacterial Infections in the Neonate
Neonatal sepsis and pneumonia account globally for approximately 500,000 deaths annually and almost 50% of deaths of infants 7 through 27 days of age. The mortality rate in developed countries also is substantial, estimated at 5% to 10%.
The peak incidence of SIDS occurs between 1 – 4 months of age; 90% of cases occur before 6 months of age. Babies continue to be at risk for SIDS up to 12 months.
SIDS is less common after 8 months of age, but parents and caregivers should continue to follow safe sleep practices to reduce the risk of SIDS and other sleep-related causes of infant death until baby's first birthday. More than 90% of all SIDS deaths occur before 6 months of age.
Scientists in Australia have found that some babies at risk of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, have low levels of an enzyme called butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) in their blood.
Fever, sweating and shaking chills. Shortness of breath. Rapid, shallow breathing. Sharp or stabbing chest pain that gets worse when you breathe deeply or cough.
Stage 1: Congestion. Stage 2: Red hepatization. Stage 3: Grey hepatization. Stage 4: Resolution.
If you're worried that your baby might suddenly stop breathing during the night, know that the chances of a child succumbing to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) — which is defined as the sudden and unexplained death of an apparently healthy infant — are very, very small.
Illness/natural cause deaths include prematurity, congenital anomalies, infection and other conditions. Most child deaths are related to illness or other natural cause. The vast majority of natural cause deaths occur before the first year of life and are often related to prematurity or birth defects.
The rate of SIDS deaths per 100,000 live births has declined in Australia since the beginning of national public education campaigns about risk factors associated with SIDS in 1991 (AIHW 2012). Between 2007 and 2017 the rate declined from 28 per 100,000 to 6 in 2017, following a peak in 2009 of 32 per 100,000.
It may be because babies don't sleep as deeply when they have a pacifier, which helps wake them up if they're having trouble breathing. A pacifier also keeps the tongue forward in the mouth, so it can't block the airway.
What are the symptoms? SIDS has no symptoms or warning signs. Babies who die of SIDS seem healthy before being put to bed. They show no signs of struggle and are often found in the same position as when they were placed in the bed.
The potential factors that contribute to the occurrence of SIDS include inadequate prenatal care, low birth weight (<2499gr), premature infants, intrauterine growth delay, short interval between pregnancies and maternal substance use (tobacco, alcohol, opiates).
As pneumonia is an infection of the lungs, the most common symptoms are coughing, trouble breathing and fever. Children with pneumonia usually experience fast breathing, or their lower chest may draw in or retract when they inhale (in a healthy person, the chest expands during inhalation).
Like many infections, pneumonia usually produces a fever, which in turn may cause sweating, chills, flushed skin, and general discomfort. The child also may lose her appetite and seem less energetic than normal. Babies and toddlers may seem pale and limp, and cry more than usual.
For instance, if a child develops pneumonia from a cold caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), it takes 4 to 6 days for symptoms to appear; for the flu virus, symptoms start after 18 to 72 hours. Pneumonia caused by bacterial infections can last 1 to 2 weeks with appropriate antibiotics.