Early onset pneumococcal sepsis in children hospitalized for noninfectious life-threatening events.

During a 13-year period 9 patients admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit for life-threatening noninfectious conditions developed pneumococcal sepsis within 48 h of admission. All patients were Bedouins, a population group characterized by high prevalence of respiratory carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae. In populations with high carriage rates of S. pneumoniae, critically ill children appear to be at increased risk of pneumococcal sepsis.