Community-acquired pneumonia

Abstract

Despite the remarkable advances in antibiotic therapies, diagnostic tools, prevention campaigns and intensive care, community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is still among the primary causes of death worldwide, and there have been no significant changes in mortality in the last decades. The clinical and economic burden of CAP makes it a major public health problem, particularly for children and the elderly. This issue provides a clinical overview of CAP, focusing on epidemiology, economic burden, diagnosis, risk stratification, treatment, clinical management, and prevention. Particular attention is given to some aspects related to the clinical management of CAP, such as the microbial etiology and the available tools to achieve it, the usefulness of new and old biomarkers, and antimicrobial and other non-antibiotic adjunctive therapies. Possible scenarios in which pneumonia does not respond to treatment are also analyzed to improve clinical outcomes of CAP.