Community-Acquired Pneumonia

pneumonia (CAP) is estimated to be between three and four million cases each year (2). It is the sixth most important cause of death, and the estimated cost of treatment, including patient care and lost wages, is $20 billion per year (4, 10). Treatment of pneumonia represents the largest consumption of antibiotics of all the diseases for which they are used. The disease is most prevalent in hospitalized patients, the elderly, and patients with compromised immune systems (e.g. AIDS patients). This paper will look at the epidemiology, etiology, clinical presentation, prognosis, treatment, and complications of pneumonia.

Pneumonia is defined as an infection of the lung parenchyma (6:1S). Pneumonia is now the leading cause of death due to infectious diseases in the United States (10). Community-acquired pneumonia frequently develops in the elderly, and 90 percent of deaths from CAP are in the aged (4:1295). Hospital-acquired pneumonia is now the second most common nosocomial infection in the Unites States and is associated with high morbidity, mortality, and increased hospital costs (6). Although approximately 77 percent of patients with pneumonia in the United States are treated in outpatient settings, the majority of pneumonia-related morbidity, mortality and health care expenditures occurs among persons who are hospitalized at some point during the illness (10:1709). Pneumonia cases have incre

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clude headache, myalgia, arthralgia, and gastrointestinal symptoms. A chest xray is used to confirm the diagnosis, and sputum cultures are used to determine the organism causing the pneumonia. Often the pathogenic organism is not determined, and noninfectious pulmonary disorders which mimic pneumonia radiographically must be ruled out (5). For example, AIDS patients are prone to numerous noninfectious pulmonary complications which mimic pneumonia radiographically. Patients should also given complete blood counts, measurement of electrolytes, blood urea nitrogen, and serum creatinine, liver-function tests, and arterial oxygenation tests. In patients aged 15 to 54, an HIV-1 test is also recommended. Prognosis According to Brown and Lerner (4), for patients not admitted to hospital, the mortality from CAP is less than one percent, the overall mortality for hospital patients with CAP 13.7 percent, for elderly patients 17.6 percent, and for patients admitted to intensive-care units, 36.5 percent. Craven and Seger (6:1) put the rates for nosocomial pneumonia at somewhere from 20 to 50 percent. Treatment The antibiotic of choice for treating CAP depends on the organism diagnosed as causing the disease, the patients age
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Approximate Word count = 1745
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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