OBJECTIVETo study the value of bacterial cultures of bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALF) in children with pulmonary infection.

METHODSBacterial cultures sampled from both sputum and BALF were performed on 80 hospitalized children with pulmonary infection between June 2008 and February 2011.Culture results between the two samples were compared.

RESULTSIn the 80 children with pulmonary infection, bacterial cultures of BALF showed that Viridans Streptococci were found in 72 cases (90%), Neisseria in 41 cases (51%), Streptococcus pneumoniae in 11 cases (14%), Staphylococcus Aureus in 3 cases (4%) and Escherichia coli in 3 cases (4%). The positive rates of Viridans Streptococci in the bacterial cultures of BALF was not significantly different from the bacterial cultures of sputum, but the positive rate of Streptococcus pneumoniae in the bacterial cultures of BALF was significantly higher than in the bacterial cultures of sputum (4%). Moreover, Escherichia coli were found only by bacterial cultures of BALF.

CONCLUSIONSBacterial cultures of BALF are useful in the identification of pathogenic bacteria for pulmonary infection in children. Due to the samples taken from the lesion regions in bacterial cultures of BALF, the results of may be more reliable.