COMMUNITY-ACQUIRED PNEUMONIA

Pneumonia has been recognized as a common and potentially lethal condition for nearly two centuries. Comprehensive studies of the disease in the pre-antibiotic era showed mortality rates of about 1 per 1000 per year; over 80 percent of the cases were due to Streptococcus pneumoniae, and mortality rates were generally reported at 20 to 40 percent.1,2 Community-acquired pneumonia (as distinguished from that acquired nosocomially or in a nursing home) continues to be a common and serious illness. Current estimates for the United States are 4 million cases annually, an attack rate of 12 per 1000 adults per year, about. © 1995, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.