Pneumonia acquired in the hospital is a very serious infection because the patient's defense mechanisms are often impaired by illness, and the infecting organisms are more dangerous than the ones generally encountered in the community.
Reviewed last on: 3/17/2009
David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Jatin M. Vyas, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Assistant in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.