Abstract
Pneumonia is a common acute respiratory infection that affects the alveoli and distal airways; it is a major health problem and associated with high morbidity and short-term and long-term mortality in all age groups worldwide. Pneumonia is broadly divided into community-acquired pneumonia or hospital-acquired pneumonia. A large variety of microorganisms can cause pneumonia, including bacteria, respiratory viruses and fungi, and there are great geographical variations in their prevalence. Pneumonia occurs more commonly in susceptible individuals, including children of <5 years of age and older adults with prior chronic conditions. Development of the disease largely depends on the host immune response, with pathogen characteristics having a less prominent role. Individuals with pneumonia often present with respiratory and systemic symptoms, and diagnosis is based on both clinical presentation and radiological findings. It is crucial to identify the causative pathogens, as delayed and inadequate antimicrobial therapy can lead to poor outcomes. New antibiotic and non-antibiotic therapies, in addition to rapid and accurate diagnostic tests that can detect pathogens and antibiotic resistance will improve the management of pneumonia.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 25 |
| Journal | Nature Reviews Disease Primers |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2021 |
Funding
A.T. has been a paid consultant to Pfizer, Jansen, and MSD, and a speaker for Pfizer and MSD. M.S.N. has received research grants from Shionogi, Bayer and Merck. He has been a paid consultant to Bayer, Merck, Paratek, Abbvie, Nabriva, and Thermo-Fisher. J.D.C. has received research funding from Astrazeneca, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Gilead Sciences, Glaxosmithkline, Insmed and Novartis; he has received consultancy fees from Chiesi, Grifols and Zambon. R.G.W. is a consultant to Merck, Shionogi, Polyphor, Microbiotix, bioMer-ieux, Curetis, KBP Biosciences, Idorsia and Accelerate. All other authors declare no competing interests. A.T. is the recipient of ICREA award from Generalitat de Catalunya. C.C. is the recipient of the SEPAR fellowship 2018, a grant 2019 from the Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (PI19/00207), and the SEPAR fellowship “Programa Mentor”. We thank J.J.T.H. Roelofs (Department of Pathology, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, Netherlands) for his invaluable assistance with the section on lung pathology and in providing representative histopathology slides.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Medicine
