Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2004 Dec;18(4):809-27.
doi: 10.1016/j.idc.2004.08.002.

Diagnostic test for etiologic agents of community-acquired pneumonia

John G Bartlett  1
Affiliations
Review

Diagnostic test for etiologic agents of community-acquired pneumonia

John G Bartlett. Infect Dis Clin North Am. 2004 Dec.

Abstract

Diagnostic tests for the detection of the etiologic agent of pneumonia are neither recommended nor done for most outpatients with CAP (Table 4).Most of these patients have no clear diagnosis but seem to do well with empiric antibiotic treatment, which often costs less than the diagnostic tests. For hospitalized patients, a pre-treatment blood culture and an expectorated sputum gram stain and culture should be done. Testing for Legionella spp is appropriate in hospitalized patients, especially those who are seriously ill. New tests that merit use in selected patients are the urinary antigen assay for S pneumoniae and the PCR test for L pneumophila. Anticipated developments in the near future are PCR tests for detection of C pneumoniae and M pneumoniae.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Heffron R. Harvard University Press; Cambridge (MA): 1939. Pneumonia.
    1. Bullowa J.G.M. The reliability of sputum typing and its relation to serum therapy. JAMA. 1935;105:1512–1523.
    1. Bartlett J.G., Alexander J., Mayhew J. Should fiberoptic bronchoscopy aspirates be cultured? Am Rev Respir Dis. 1976;114:73–78. - PubMed
    1. Wimberly N., Faling J., Bartlett J.G. A fiberoptic bronchoscopy technique to obtain uncontaminated lower airway secretions for bacterial culture. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1979;119:337–343. - PubMed
    1. Bartlett J.G., Dowell S.F., Mandel L.A. Practice guidelines for the management of community-acquired pneumonia in adults. Clin Infect Dis. 2000;31:347–382. - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms