Due to the development of knowledge, more paediatric patients with chronic respiratory diseases are being referred for further medical care to adult specialists, for example CF patients suffering from this serious genetic disorder. Progress in its treatment in the final decade of the 20^th century has resulted in increased life expectancy and a better quality of life.An exact molecular diagnosis of every patient will allow us to work out how to repair the CFTR protein defect caused by particular mutations, i.e. an individual therapeutic approach in specific classes, and even in single mutations of the CFTR gene. There are attempts at gene therapy of CF, but in the most advanced conditions the only efficient method of treatment is a lung transplant.

The next, very important issue is tuberculosis, still dangerous from a social point of view. The improvement of TB epidemiology in Poland, despite the application of modern bacteriology and molecular biology techniques, is making diagnosis more and more difficult.

Children suffering from TB are oligobacillous and the illness has only a few symptoms. Children often suffer from non-pulmonary localization, which makes the diagnosis even more difficult. That is why we consider it necessary to bear in mind the epidemiology and criteria of diagnosis of tuberculosis among children.

Respiratory system infections are still an important problem in children and diagnosis, treatment and prevention are still the primary concern of paediatricians. Children suffer more often from atypical pneumonias, and widely applied beta-lactam antibiotics are inefficient in these patients.

That is why it is so important to know how to diagnose and treat such conditions. In this light the review paper on atypical bacterial pneumonia and the case study of Chlamydophila pneumonia serve as an interesting reminder.

Nevertheless the most important matter is active prevention in the form of vaccinations. Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae type B are the essential bacteria, resulting in the death of children from pneumonia. Vaccination against Heamophilus influenzae type B is covered by the Preventive Vaccination Program in Poland. According to WHO recommendations, vaccination against pneumococci should be widely introduced in Poland because 17 other European countries have already done so. The clinical efficiency of the only available conjugated vaccine against pneumococcal pneumonias (PCV7) is about 67-87%. The introduction of the vaccine in the USA has resulted in a 30% decrease in the hospitalization rate due to pneumonias in children aged up to 2 years. Presentation of the latest information about recommendations concerning vaccination against pneumococci should be interesting for doctors, both paediatricians and GPs. An enormous increase of morbidity due to bronchial asthma, especially in children, has been observed recently. An answer to the question what agents influence the phenomenon and how to prevent it is being sought. At the same time, substantial achievements in asthma treatment have been reached. Due to progress in the last 15 years, the illness is well controlled, at least in the majority of patients. Papers on this subject constitute a review of the most recent clinical research and promising preclinical research.