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During the past decade, we have gained a better understanding of the consequences of immune system activation during bacterial infections, including severe sepsis and shock. In routine clinical practice, the severity of such infections is assessed using clinical parameters alone; the microbiology laboratory contributes information only on the pathogen and its resistance pattern (and does so with considerable delay). Might bacterial load also provide an important clue? To find out, researchers conducted a prospective study involving 353 adults in Spain who were hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia and had not received antibiotics before admission.
Ninety-three of the patients had evidence of pneumococcal infection. Blood cultures dr…