Microbial Etiology of Pneumonia: Epidemiology, Diagnosis and Resistance Patterns

Abstract

Globally, pneumonia is a serious public health concern and a major cause of mortality and morbidity. Despite advances in antimicrobial therapies, microbiological diagnostic tests and prevention measures, pneumonia remains the main cause of death from infectious disease in the world. An important reason for the increased global mortality is the impact of pneumonia on chronic diseases, along with the increasing age of the population and the virulence factors of the causative microorganism. The increasing number of multidrug-resistant bacteria, difficult-to-treat microorganisms, and the emergence of new pathogens are a major problem for clinicians when deciding antimicrobial therapy. A key factor for managing and effectively guiding appropriate antimicrobial therapy is an understanding of the role of the different causative microorganisms in the etiology of pneumonia, since it has been shown that the adequacy of initial antimicrobial therapy is a key factor for prognosis in pneumonia. Furthermore, broad-spectrum antibiotic therapies are sometimes given until microbiological results are available and de-escalation cannot be performed quickly. This review provides an overview of microbial etiology, resistance patterns, epidemiology and microbial diagnosis of pneumonia.

Gene expression analysis for pneumonia caused by Gram-positive bacterial infection

“…According to the statistics from the World Health Organization, pneumonia causes ~1.6 million deaths annually, becoming a leading cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world (25,26). Among the casualties of pneumonia, >1 million are children under the age of 5 years.…”

Integrative Physiology of Pneumonia

“…talized patients, nursing home residents, etc.) have different microbes implicated (15,79), but in each population it is a spectrum of responsible agents rather than a specific microbial type. There are few, if any, unifying principles to the types of microbe that cause pneumonia.…”

Review on antibacterial activity of Himalayan medicinal plants traditionally used to treat pneumonia and tuberculosis

“…Pneumonia and tuberculosis are the common respiratory tract infections in humans that mostly affect the lungs. Pneumonia is mainly caused by the bacterial pathogens such as Streptococcus pneumoniae , Staphylococcus aureus , Klebsiella pneumoniae , Escherichia coli , Acinetobacter species and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; of which S. aureus and S. pneumoniae (pneumococcus) are the most common pathogens causing community‐acquired pneumonia worldwide . It is acute respiratory tract infection that causes inflammation in the alveoli of lungs resulting in accumulation of pus and fluid, which lead to difficulty in breathing.…”

“…Pneumonia is mainly caused by the bacterial pathogens such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter species and Pseudomonas aeruginosa; of which S. aureus and S. pneumoniae (pneumococcus) are the most common pathogens causing community-acquired pneumonia worldwide. [1,2] It is acute respiratory tract infection that causes inflammation in the alveoli of lungs resulting in accumulation of pus and fluid, which lead to difficulty in breathing. Pneumonia mainly affects younger children as compared to adults causing annually 0.68-0.92 million deaths in children worldwide.…”