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Not Perfect, but Good

Bradley A. Sharpe, MD

Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(16):1462-1464.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a common, morbid, and mortal disease, and appropriate antibiotic therapy remains the cornerstone of management. Patients hospitalized with CAP can be infected with both typical and atypical bacterial organisms.¹ Most evidence indicates that clinical features (signs and symptoms) at presentation are not specific enough to consistently predict the causative agent.¹ Therefore, absent unique epidemiologic characteristics, the overwhelming majority of patients must be treated empirically. To improve the quality of care and decrease practice variability, professional societies have published guidelines for the management of CAP, including recommending specific empirical antibiotic regimens.

For patients outside of the intensive care unit, most of these guidelines, including the most recent Infectious Diseases Society of America and American Thoracic Society (IDSA/ATS) consensus guidelines,¹ recommend either a β-lactam plus a macrolide or a respiratory fluoroquinolone. The guideline recommendations were derived from multiple large retrospective cohort studies that showed . . . [Full Text of this Article]

EVIDENCE SUPPORTING GUIDELINE-RECOMMENDED REGIMENS


CONTROVERSY PERSISTS

NEW CONTRIBUTIONS

IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCHERS AND CLINICIANS
Direction for Researchers

Clinical Ramifications

AUTHOR INFORMATION


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