Guideline Video

Guideline Resources

  • Management of Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Infants and Children Older Than 3 Months of Age
  • Infectious Diseases Society of America/Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society
  • February 24, 2026
  • Summary
  • Pocket Guide
  • Full-text

Video Transcription

Just published February 24th, 2026, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society’s newest guideline update on Management of Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Infants and Children Older Than 3 Months of Age.

This guideline is intended for healthcare professionals involved in the care of children with pneumonia and complicated pneumonia, and addresses the diagnosis and management of pediatric pneumonia with parapneumonic effusion.

In today’s rapid update, we’ll just be going over key recommendations so for the full guideline, make sure to check it out on guidelinecentral.com

Let’s get started. 

  • In children with radiographic evidence of a moderate to large parapneumonic effusion, the panel suggests obtaining a chest ultrasound over CT or MRI to characterize the size and complexity of the effusion.
  • In children with small, uncomplicated parapneumonic effusions, the panel suggests observation over pleural drainage.
  • In children with moderate parapneumonic effusions associated with respiratory distress, large parapneumonic effusions, or documented purulent effusions, the panel recommends pleural drainage.
  • In children and adolescents with pneumonia-associated empyema in whom pleural drainage is indicated, the panel suggests using chest tube drainage and intrapleural fibrinolytics rather than surgical debridement as first-line therapy in most cases.
  • In children with parapneumonic effusion or empyema that necessitates drainage, the panel members suggest the use of small-bore chest tubes over large-bore tubes.
  • In children with pneumonia-associated empyema, the panel suggests administering tPA alone over tPA and DNase.

And there you have it. Make sure to check out the full guideline from the Infectious Diseases Society of America and Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society and other related clinical decision support tools at guidelinecentral.com.

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