Detecting potential respiratory pathogens in the mouths of older people in hospital

摘要

SIR—Hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP) is the third mostncommon health care associated infection, and complicatesn1.27% of UK hospital admissions [1]. The incidence is highernin groups such as the elderly, post-operative patients andnthose on specialist units such as liver, burns or haematologyn[1]. The incidence of HAP appears to increase with age [2],nand the mortality in older people is thought to be betweenn12.2–55% depending on the group studied [3, 4].nThe bacteria which cause hospital acquired pneumonian(HAP) such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniaenand Staphylococcus aureus are thought to reside in the oropharynxnbefore being aspirated into the lungs causing pneumonian[5, 6]. These bacteria are more commonly found in thenmouths of sick or institutionalised persons than healthy peoplen[7–11] but are not considered part of the normal oral flora.