Pneumonia is an infection of the lung, and can be caused by nearly any class of organism known to cause human infections. These include bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites.
Statins may reduce mortality in patients hospitalized with influenza – Taking Statins May Help Flu patients – The two main ways to prevent and control influenza today are annual immunization and antiviral drugs. A team of investigators has found that statins, cholesterol-lowering drugs, may offer an additional treatment to complement these approaches and reduce mortality among patients hospitalized with influenza.
Treating HIV-infected people with antiretrovirals significantly reduces transmission to partners — Findings result from NIH-funded international study – Men and women infected with HIV reduced the risk of transmitting the virus to their sexual partners by taking oral antiretroviral medicines when their immune systems were relatively healthy, according to findings from a large-scale clinical study.
Vitamin D deficiency in pneumonia patients associated with increased mortality – A new study published in the journal Respirology reveals that adult patients admitted to the hospital with pneumonia are more likely to die if they have Vitamin D deficiency.
Electronic medical records not always linked to better care in hospitals, study finds – Use of electronic health records by hospitals across the United States has had only a limited effect on improving the quality of medical care, according to a new RAND Corporation study.
New genomic marker for tuberculosis may help identify patients who will develop the disease — Study highlights how blood profiling techniques could change patient care – It may soon be possible to identify patients who will develop tuberculosis, as scientists have identified changes in the blood specific to the disease.
Pneumococcal vaccine offers protection to HIV-infected African adults in clinical trial – A clinical trial of a vaccine against a major cause of pneumonia and meningitis has shown that it can prevent three out of four cases of re-infection in HIV-infected adults in Africa.
New study shows sepsis and pneumonia caused by hospital-acquired infections kill 48,000 patients — Cost $8.1 billion to treat – Two common conditions caused by hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) killed 48,000 people and ramped up health care costs by $8.1 billion in 2006 alone, according to a study released in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Clustering MRSA in Europe indicates diffusion through regional health-care networks – A new study finds that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) ?responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections including blood poisoning and pneumonia and a particular problem in hospitals ? occurs in distinct geographical clusters across Europe, indicating that MRSA is being diffused by patients moving between hospitals rather than spreading freely in the community.
Severity of H1N1 influenza linked to presence of Streptococcus pneumoniae – The presence of the Streptococcus pneumoniae in samples that can be easily obtained in clinics and emergency rooms may predict risk of severe disease in H1N1 pandemic influenza.
Toward a fast, accurate urine test for pneumonia – Scientists are reporting a discovery of the potential basis for a urine test to diagnose community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), a difficult-to-diagnose disease that is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.
