Severe Community-Acquired Pneumonia

Abstract

Severe community-acquired pneumonia is a clinical diagnosis with significant impact on healthcare management around the world, with the highest morbidity and mortality of all the forms of community-acquired pneumonia. Severe pneumonia patients usually require intensive care unit management, including vasopressors and/or mechanical ventilation. Early clinical suspicion and prompt empiric antimicrobial therapies are mandatory in patients with severe pneumonia. A number of recent studies and guidelines addressing these issues have been published. They are reviewed in this article.