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Article: Pneumonia in Intensive Care-Another Frontier?
- Article from:
- Anaesthesia and Intensive Care
- Article date:
- February 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Australian Society of Anaesthetists Feb 2005. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Pneumonia is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in intensive care. Three types of pneumonia are relevant to intensive care. These are community-acquired, hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated pneumonia. The latter two types of pneumonia are nosocomial in nature and at least in part represent a failure of cross-infection precautions and health delivery systems. Ventilator-associated pneumonia is particularly important because it trebles the length of stay in intensive care and adds substantially to costs1. The outcome for all types of pneumonia is determined partly by host factors, but also by early diagnosis and effective antibiotic therapy.
Over-diagnosis of pneumonia ...