What is it about?
Diffuse panbronchiolitis is a progressive potentially fatal disease of Southeast Asians. The Japanese estimate is 1 in 10,000 of their population. A serendipitous observation in Japan found macrolide antibiotics to be life saving. The study of this 10 y.o. boy of Korean genetic background demonstrated the progression of improvement with azithromycin and sustained remission after 3 years of treatment .
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Why is it important?
The effectiveness of macorlide antibiotics for diffiuse panbronchiolitis is demonstrated but the mechanism is unkown.
Perspectives
The identification of diffuse panbronchiolitis early is important but not common. There are several million of Southeast Asian background in the U.S. Physicians must be sufficiently aware of this rare disease in the U.S. to recognize and treat it before permanent lung damage occurs.
Professor Miles Weinberger
University of California San Diego
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Diffuse panbronchiolitis in a 10-year-old boy, Pediatric Pulmonology, March 2015, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1002/ppul.23176.
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