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Novel treatment (new drug/intervention; established drug/procedure in new situation)
CASE REPORT
Caffeine to prevent respiratory failure and improve outcome in infant pertussis
  1. John Evered1,
  2. Eric Pfeifer2,
  3. Matthew Gracianette3
  1. 1 Department of Pediatrics, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA
  2. 2 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, Vancouver, Washington, USA
  3. 3 Randall Children’s Hospital, Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, Portland, Oregon, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr John Evered, jevered{at}icloud.com

Summary

Pertussis remains a dangerous disease for children around the world, especially for infants less than 6 months old. In this age group, high mortality and morbidity have been linked to the effects of the pertussis toxin, including lymphocytosis, pulmonary hyperviscosity and pulmonary hypertension. This paper reports on an infant with pertussis who received therapeutic caffeine. Caffeine might improve outcomes in pertussis by preventing apnoea, improving respiratory drive and decreasing pulmonary complications.

  • infections
  • respiratory system
  • infectious diseases
  • neonatal and paediatric intensive care

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2017-223102

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors JOE researched, drafted and edited the case history, discussion and conclusions. EP drafted the section on caffeine pharmacology and edited and contributed to all sections of the report. MG edited the paper and contributed to all sections of the report.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Parental/guardian consent obtained.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.