Clinical perspectives on the management of community-acquired pneumonia

The management of community-acquired pneumonia requires the physician to start antibiotic treatment before the results of the sensitivity tests are known. To make a rational choice of antibiotic, a knowledge of the epidemiology of the disease is required with data on the susceptibility of the main pathogens to various antibiotics. Care must be taken to differentiate the "typical" from the "atypical" pneumonia. Increasing resistance among pneumococci to penicillin is causing considerable concern and, although increasing the dose is a strategy that currently works, a point will be reached in the future where new antibiotics will be required.