Aetiological agent in community acquired pneumonia in patients requiring hospitalization

This study was carried out to determine the etiological agents in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (cap). ninety-three patients with radiologically confirmed pneumonia admitted to the medical city, baghdad teaching hospital through the period extended from october 2001 till march 2002. also to investigate a possible correlation between etiological agents in patients with cap and comorbid factors including age. the etiological agents were identified from 50 (53.8%) patients with cap, while no agents were detected in 43 (46.2%) patients. blood samples were taken from all patients for identification of chlamydia pneumoniae and mycoplasma pneumoniae infection. sputum samples for culture were taken from 76 (81.7%) patients; bacterial species were isolated from 22 (23.7%) samples. streptococcus pneumoniae was the most frequent typical bacterial pathogen isolated from 17 (18.3%) patients. atypical pathogens (c. pneumoniae and m. pneumoniae) using elisa technique were identified in 22 (23.6%) and 20 (21.5%) respectively. atypical pathogens were a most common causes of cap identified from (39.8%) cases. sixteen (17.2%) of the patients had mixed infections (two pathogens were identified in 12 (75%) and three pathogens in 4 (25%) patients). c. pneumoniae and s. pneumoniae were the most common mixed organisms found in 6 (37.5%) of patients