Streptococcus pneumoniae respiratory tract infections.

This review describes recent contributions to our understanding of pneumococcal pneumonia. Two genes have been described that encode enzymes involved with the biosynthesis of muropeptides. These enzymes may be novel antibiotic targets. The clinical impact of increasing antibiotic resistance on the treatment of pneumonia is the particular focus of the review. As resistant strains are more commonly associated with severe infections in patients with underlying disease, the interpretation of an association of resistance with poor clinical outcome is complicated.