[Clinical problems about microbiological findings in pneumology (author's transl)]

Identification for clinical purposes of the etiological germs in individual cases of bronchopulmonary not tuberculous infections is usually very hard. Sometimes, particularly in acute cases, microbiological counts in sputum as in tracheobronchial secretions and exudates may be useful. In some chronic cases an amount of particular bacteria in tracheal (transcutaneous) secretion larger than in sputum is to consider an etiological sign.