[New therapeutic strategies for community acquired pneumonia].

Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) is the most important infectious disease in Germany. In the acute phase, lethality is almost 10%, and in the six months follow up period following the acute infection, lethality is more than 15%. Problems with resistances had not been found in Germany, except for a decreasing susceptibility of S. pneumoniae against macrolides. The CRB-65 score allows a reliable discrimination between patients with a high and low risk of dying. The new S3 guideline for diagnosis and treatment of community acquired pneumonia recommends a risk adapted treatment. Low risk patients shall receive a monotherapy with e. g. amoxicillin, high risk patients should be treated with a broad spectrum combination therapy (beta-lactam and macrolide).