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Background: In 2014, an outbreak of adenoviral pneumonia occurred in the Korean military training center. However, there are limited data on the characteristics of the fever and its response to antipyretic therapy in immunocompetent adults with adenovirus-positive community-acquired pneumonia (CAP)., Methods: The medical records of the patients who were admitted to the Armed Forces Chuncheon Hospital for the treatment of CAP between January 2014 and December 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into three groups, namely, the adenovirus-positive (Adv) group, the adenovirus-negative (Non-Adv) group and the unknown pathogen group, according to the results of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test and sputum culture used to measure adenovirus and other bacteria or viruses in respiratory specimens. We evaluated and compared the demographics, clinicolaboratory findings and radiological findings upon admission between the two groups., Results: Out of the 251 military personnel with CAP during the study periods, 67 were classified into the Adv group, while 134 were classified into the Non-Adv group and 50 were classified into the unknown pathogen group. The patients in the Adv group had a longer duration of fever after admission (3.2 ± 1.6 vs. 1.9 ± 1.2 vs. 2.2 ± 1.5 days, P = 0.018) and symptom onset (5.8 ± 2.2 vs. 3.9 ± 2.5 vs. 3.7 ± 2.0 days, P = 0.006) than patients in the Non-Adv and unknown pathogen groups, respectively. The patients in the Adv group had a higher mean temperature at admission (37.8 ± 0.3 vs. 37.3 ± 0.3 vs. 37.3 ± 0.3, P = 0.005), and more patients were observed over 40 and 39 to 40(14.9% vs. 2.2% vs. 4.0%, 35.8% vs. 3.7% vs. 6.0%, P <  0.001) than those in the Non-Adv and unknown pathogen groups, respectively. The Adv group more commonly had no response or exhibited adverse events after antipyretic treatment compared to the Non-Adv group (17.9% vs. 1.5%, 35.0% vs. 4.3%, P <  0.001, P = 0.05, respectively). In addition, the time from admission to overall clinical stabilization was significantly longer in the patients in the Adv group than in those in the Non-Adv group (4.3 ± 2.8 vs. 2.9 ± 1.8 days, P = 0.034, respectively). Furthermore, no significant difference in the length of hospital stay was observed between the two groups, and no patient died in either group., Conclusion: In this study, Adv-positive CAP in immunocompetent military personnel patients had distinct fever characteristics and responses to antipyretic treatment.

Background: Pneumonia is one of the major killers of children under 5 years. Prompt and appropriate management is crucial; yet, the care a sick child receives depends on caretakers' perception of illness and action taken. Hence, understanding of local illness concepts on pneumonia and caretakers' response is crucial for interventions aimed at improved management., Objective: To elucidate local illness concepts involving childhood fever, cough and difficult/fast breathing and how these concepts' influence management of children with potential pneumonia., Methods: Key informant interviews with eight health workers and eight traditional healers and five focus group discussions, including presentation of a DVD showing children suffering from respiratory problems, with mothers of children under 5 years old in Iganga/Mayuge Demographic Surveillance Site (DSS) in eastern Uganda., Results: Many terminologies were used to refer to symptoms of pneumonia. Difficult/fast breathing was considered severe but was not presented among common childhood illnesses. Mothers were likely to interpret any condition involving fever as malaria and had different preferred actions for difficult/fast breathing in their children. Although mothers mentioned using drugs at home for pneumonia related symptoms, they gave examples only of antipyretics. Health workers said mothers would use antimalarials and sometimes antibiotics to treat breathing problems., Conclusions: There is a community knowledge gap on symptoms and biomedical treatment for pneumonia. To promote appropriate management of childhood fever, pneumonia and malaria as two separate illnesses should be highlighted, the role of antibiotics must be emphasized and local illness concepts should be addressed in behaviour change communication.