الفهرس 
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Abstract
Pneumonia is one of the most common problems encountered in children. Vitamin D may be indicated for treatment of pneumonia because it has an important role in the production of anti- microbial peptides important for innate immunity.
The aim of this work is to evaluate the role of vitamin D2 in children with bacterial pneumonia.
The present study was carried on 80 children with age ranged from 1-3 years who were grouped into 2 groups (Study group) included 50 children with proven diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia which were subdivided after that into GIA (respiratory distress grade III) and GIB (respiratory distress grade IV) with and (Control group) included 30 apparently healthy children who were selected from outpatient clinic.
All studied groups were subjected to full medical history, clinical examination and laboratory investigations including, Complete blood count (CBC), C-reactive protein (CRP) (Jaye et al., 1997), Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), Measurement of serum 25OHD& Chest X- ray (for group I only).
It was found that the WBCs and ESR were statistically significantly higher in group I than group II while Hb and Vit D were statistically significantly lower in group I than group II, also CRP was (+ve) in group I and (-ve) in group II.
Furthermore, our study revealed that Vit D level was statistically significantly higher in GIA (R.D grade III) than GIB (R.D grade IV).
Moreover in our study we found that there was correlation between Vit D level and R.D grades.
In conclusion we found that inappropriate concentration of vitamin D decrease the ability of the immune system to defend against respiratory infections through lowering the secretion of natural antibiotics known as antimicrobial peptides and so increase the susceptibility and severity of pneumonia in children.