Community-Acquired Pneumonia: A Global Perspective
Richard G. Wunderink, Charles Feldman
Abstract
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a truly global disease, and remains the leading infectious disease cause of hospitalization, morbidity, and death in both the developed and developing world. Therefore, that this journal has published several global perspectives on CAP over the years is hardly surprising. Since the last CAP-focused issue was in 2016, an update on this topic in 2020 appeared appropriate. Clinical and microbiological differences in CAP in different regions of the world clearly exist, based on differences in population ages and smoking habit, underlying comorbid conditions, rates of influenza and pneumococcal vaccination, and access to healthcare. Epidemiological patterns of pathogens in different geographical regions are also changing. The guest editors of this edition of the journal invited leading experts around the world to contribute chapters describing the current status of various different microorganisms causing CAP, both in their regions and globally.