Pneumococcal pneumonia: experience in a community hospital.

Cases of patients admitted to hospital with community-acquired pneumonia over a three-year period were reviewed to determine whether pneumococcal pneumonia and pneumococcal bacteremia occurred as frequently as reported in urban and university-based studies. Pneumococcus was isolated in only 25 of 202 patients (12 percent) in whom adequate attempts at culture were made, only one patient had documented pneumococcal bacteremia and no patients died of pneumococcal pneumonia proved by culture. Prospective studies in community hospitals should be considered to define more clearly the epidemiology of pneumococcal pneumonia in the nonurban United States population. These studies would also contribute to a rational policy for use of pneumococcal vaccine in this country.