Community-Acquired Pneumonia 2000-2015: What is New?
Catia Cilloniz 1, Antoni Torres 2
1 Applied Research in Respiratory Infections and Critical Illness, Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Barcelona, Spain; Faculty of Health Sciences, Continental University, Huancayo, Peru; 2 Pneumology Service, Hospital Clínic, Barcelna; Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Spain; Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona; CIBER de enfermedades respiratorias (Ciberes), Spain
*Correspondence: Antoni Torres, Email not available
Abstract
Despite the development of new diagnostic tests, new antimicrobial agents, and the implementation of international guidelines in recent decades, community-acquired pneumonia still has high morbidity and mortality worldwide and is associated with moderate health costs. Streptococcus pneumoniae is still the most frequent pathogen related to microbial aetiology of community-acquired pneumonia, although almost 50% of cases of pneumonia still have no microbiological diagnosis. However, the development of molecular techniques such as real-time polymerase chain reaction in the past five years has revealed respiratory viruses to be major causative agents in community-acquired pneumonia. With the explosion of information from the many studies focusing on community-acquired pneumonia epidemiology, microbial aetiology and management in the last 15 years, the introduction of predictive tools, and advances in the pathophysiology of the disease, management of community-acquired pneumonia has also improved over this time due to the implementation of international guidelines proposed by different scientific associations. This review focuses on the new data in the management of community-acquired pneumonia.
