Pneumonia in a city hospital.

Of 222 patients with pneumonia in St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, in 1972, more were affected by bronchopneumonia (53%) than lobar pneumonia (46%). Two-thirds of the patients were males and 86% were aged 40 years or more. Only 59% had any bacteriological studies performed. It was unusual to isolate pathogens from persons who had received antibiotics before cultures were taken, but of cultures taken from persons not receiving antibiotics, 65% yielded pneumococci. Infections due to Staphylococcus aureus, pseudomonas and enterobacteria were uncommon. Haemophilus influenzae appeared to be a co-pathogen in bronchopneumonia more than in lobar pneumonia. The mortality in lobar pneumonia was acceptably low (4%), but was generally high in bronchopneumonia, being 32% when the condition occurred after surgical operations and 35% when this form of pneumonia complicated other normally non-terminal medical diseases. The mortality was 17% in primary bronchopneumonia.