BREATHING NEW LIFE INTO RESPIRATORY MEDICINE: SURVEILLANCE AND PUBLIC HEALTH IMPLICATIONS

Annually, lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) cause about 2.3 million mortality and 6.6 million morbidity in children under the age of five around the globe (Wildman et al.,2023). Globally, these infections are common in children below five and are growing, especially in deprived regions( Safari et al., 2023).A number of microbes cause LRTTS, which includes bacteria, fungi, and respiratory tract infectious viruses. Globally, major viral pathogens, including influenza virus coronavirus, adenovirus, and rhinovirus cause severity in children. However, the pandemic notably diminished the prevalence of non-COVID-19 respiratory viruses, with a 90% decrease in victims excluding adenovirus and enterovirus were recorded(Ho et al .,2023). The respiratory epithelium contains a diversified associated microbiota but respiratory microbial research and findings were very less because of the complicated unculturable microbiome of the respiratory system.(Dickson et al., 2015 ; Santacroce et al., 2020). Significant progress is being made in developing host response-based diagnostics for Acute respiratory infections(ARI). One of the major developments is protein biomarkers and "omics" methods including proteomics, metabolomics, and transcriptomics technology (Ross et al., 2019; Wildman et al., 2023). Global and National programs against lower respiratory infections and other common diseases, such as Every Breath Counts, the Global Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (GAPPD), and the Stop Pneumonia Initiative, are being implemented(Rudan et al., 2013). This review provides an overview of the global, regional, and national impact of LRIs and explores the role of microbial origins in LRTIs.