SYDNEY, Feb 2, 2022 (BSS/XINHUA) - Australian pediatric researchers have

announced an insight into why some children are particularly prone to chronic
chest infections.

   In a study published Wednesday in the Lancet Microbe, researchers from the
Menzies School of Health Research (Menzies), the Telethon Kids Institute and
the University of Western Australia (UWA) used a powerful microscope to
discover that some children with persistent wet coughs had a bacterial slime
-- called a biofilm -- in their lungs.

   Many children suffer from a prolonged wet cough after having an acute
cough and can develop the condition known as protracted bacterial bronchitis
(PBB).

  Menzies' Robyn Marsh said children with recurrent PBB are at increased risk
of progressing to a severe lung disease called bronchiectasis.

  "For most kids with PBB, their cough will get better after they have had a
two-week course of antibiotics, but we also know some kids will have repeated
episodes of bronchitis that never seem to get better," Marsh said.

   The researchers used a process known as bronchoalveolar lavage to collect
a sample from the lungs. During the procedure, a sterile solution was used to
flush the child's airways and capture a fluid sample containing the germs
that cause the chest infection.

  This is the first known study to demonstrate a prevalence of biofilm in
affected children.

  Using the powerful microscope with contrasting colors helped locate and
identify the slime in the affected lungs, said Ruth Thornton from the UWA
Center for Child Health Research.

  "This is an important discovery as we know that when bacteria live in these
slimes, they can be more than 1,000 times more resistant to antibiotics than
the bacteria that cause the acute infections that you take your child to the
doctor for," Thornton said.

   "This means that when you stop antibiotics your child is likely to get yet
another infection," she said.

  Anne Chang, who is in charge of Child Health at Menzies, said the findings
were important because it means "we can start investigating new ways to treat
these children so that fewer of them will progress to having severe lung
disease."