Bao_2026_J.Clin.Med_15_

Background:Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae are important causes of hospital-acquired infections in pediatric patients, but comparative data on their clinical manifestations and inflammatory biomarkers remain limited. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 55 children with single-positive blood cultures for A. baumannii (n = 20) or K. pneumoniae (n = 35), together with 30 healthy controls. Results: CRP, IL-6, and IL-10 were higher in infected children than in healthy controls. Logistic regression identified CRP and the IL-6/IL-10 ratio as exploratory correlates of infection. In ROC analyses distinguishing infected children from healthy controls, IL-6 showed the highest AUC, followed by IL-10 and CRP. In pathogen-level analyses, the IL-6/IL-10 ratio and lipase showed exploratory discriminatory signals. Conclusions: In this small retrospective case-control cohort, CRP, IL-6, and IL-10 were associated with microbiologically confirmed infection. Lipase may represent a potential biomarker for differentiating A. baumannii from K. pneumoniae infection, but its clinical utility requires prospective validation in larger multicenter cohorts using clinically relevant inpatient control groups.