Severe respiratory infection with Branhamella catarrhalis in an African child

A pure growth of Branhamella catarrhalis was obtained from a purulent bronchial exudate in a 28-month-old Rwandese girl, hospitalized for acute inspiratory dyspnoea with fever. The outcome was favourable under treatment with ampicillin, although the isolate was shown to produce a beta-lactamase in vitro.