[A comparison of community-acquired lung infection and nosocomial infection--review of autopsy cases in Hisayama town].

All people in Hisayama town who died either at home or in hospital are autopsied in Kyushu University Hospital. We examined the incidence and the pathogen of community-acquired lung infection and nosocomial infection from the records of 463 autopsy cases from 1977 to 1988. Of these cases, 243 died at home. Among them, pulmonary infections were present in 122 cases (50.2%), and pulmonary infection was the cause of death in 87 cases (35.8%). Of 220 cases that died in hospital, pulmonary infections were present in 133 cases (60.5%) and were the cause of death in 83 cases (37.7%). In the cases that died at home, the incidence of pulmonary infections during the first 6-year period of the study was almost the same as that during the last 6 years. In the case that died in hospital, the incidence of pulmonary infections during the last 6-year period was higher than that during the first 6-year period. Regarding the pathogenic organisms of the fungal infections, only Candida was detected in case that died at home, while Candida, Aspergillus and Cryptococcus were detected in the case that died in hospital.