Although it's not considered the number one cause of child mortality, pneumonia tops the morbidity list among children between one month and one year in Thimphu, according to pediatricians at the Thimphu national referral hospital. Recently, a Class II girl-student of Jigme Namgyel Lower Secondary School was suspected to have died of pneumonia, according to the school authority. If true, it would have been the first case of death from pneumonia of the 45 recorded cases with the pediatric ward in 2008. The student had died two days after she suffered from flu. She lived in a makeshift shack with her parents, who worked on the roadsides in Thimphu. "They didn't have a proper home and used jute sacks as mattresses,' said the school principal. The school donated Nu 6,000 to the parents. Pediatricians said that it was wrong to speculate and associate the child's death with pneumonia without having seen her. But, given the kind of ambience she lived in, constant exposure to dust from the ongoing road widening works, no proper shelter during the cold winter and poor diet, pediatricians said, could have aggravated her already deteriorating cough and cold. "It would be sad if the child died of pneumonia in Thimphu where the country's national referral hospital is,' said a pediatrician, adding that it was a rare occurrence among children of school-going age. "She could have been treated easily had she been brought for a check-up,' the pediatrician said. Most parents, pediatricians said, often ignored cold and cough as a mild flu without timely and proper medical care. "Cold and cough is an acute respiratory tract infection,' said the pediatrician. Children, he said, should be brought to hospital to find out whether or not it's pneumonia, which is characterised by rapid breathing, loss of appetite, and high fever with cough. Although not the leading cause of death, records maintained by the pediatric ward show that in 2007 about 275 children were admitted to the hospital with pneumonia, of which only four succumbed to the disease, two of whom also suffered from heart-related diseases. The total number of children admitted for pneumonia in 2007 accounts for almost 30 percent of the total 865 children admitted for various diseases and infections. By Samten Wangchuk samme@kuensel.com.bt