Plasma cytokine profile on admission related to aetiology in community‐acquired pneumonia

Background Potentially unnecessary antibiotic use for community‐acquired pneumonia (CAP) contributes to selection of antibiotic‐resistant pathogens. Cytokine expression at the time that treatment is started may assist in identifying patients not requiring antibiotics. We determined plasma cytokine patterns in patients retrospectively categorized as strict viral, pneumococcal or combined viral‐bacterial CAP. Objective To investigate whether...