[CAPNet--network of competence for community acquired pneumonia: structures and aims].

Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) is a disease with high morbidity and mortality in Germany. Apart from the importance of CAP, no reliable data is available about infective germs, resistance of germs, course of the disease, or evidence based treatment. Also basic research should be improved in this field. The German State Ministry for Research (BMBF) has recognised these deficits and supports CAPNet, the network of competence for Community Acquired Pneumonia since 2002.