Prevention, diagnosis, and management of infection in the nursing home.

Infectious diseases constitute a major source of morbidity and mortality in the long-term care setting. In this article, the authors discuss age-related changes in the immune response, the atypical presentation of disease in this population, the major categories of infection, the approach to therapeutic planning, and the potential hazards of treatment. Strategies for prevention of infection in individual patients and in the entire long-term care community also are discussed.