Bacterial pneumonias in the rural society of Solwezi District of the North-Western Province of Zambia.

Bacterial pneumonias form the major cause of admission for bronchopulmonary infections at Solwezi General Hospital. The figures obtained from this study may represent the rate of incidence and prevalence of bacterial pneumonias in the other districts of North-Western Province of Zambia. The major bacterial organisms involved in pathogenesis of these pneumonias are streptococcus pneumoniae, pneumococcus, staphylococcus aureaus. In none of the cases could tuberculosis bacilli or fungal organism be detected. The patients affected essentially belong to the young and middle age group with predominance of males over females. The involvement of both lungs in the pneumonic process is one of the most interesting findings in this study as it was encountered in 28 patients (25.68%). This could be explained on the basis of low resistance of the afflicted to bacterial infection. Inspite of the severity of pneumonias there was a relatively good response to the general antibacterial chemotherapy and hence 83 patients (76.06%) have had complete resolution of their lesions and the overall rate of mortality was only 2.77%. The main cause of mortality was, however acute respiratory insufficiency and failure. Another interesting point in this study is the involvement of the right lower lobes more than the other lobes of both lungs.