Loading...
Pneumonia is one of the most common reasons for unscheduled hospital admissions, but the optimal antibiotic therapy remains unclear. Observational studies involving patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) have shown advantages for combination therapies using β-lactams together with coverage for atypical organisms, but a meta-analysis and a systematic review of controlled trials did not confirm such benefit. Studies also have shown improved outcomes among patients with bacteremic pneumonia who receive combination therapy. Recently, fluoroquinolones have been favored because they provide both atypical coverage and high pneumococcal susceptibility rates.
To gain a better understanding of the effects of atypical coverage, researchers ex…