High prevalence of pneumonia in children of a smelter town.

Since German reunification in 1990, most heavy industries in Eastern Germany have been shut down. Although air quality has improved in terms of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter (PM), the content of certain metals in PM in industrial areas is persistently high. Lifetime pneumonia prevalence in schoolchildren born after unification in the heavy-metal industrial area Hettstedt remain elevated.

Antibiotic treatment of community acquired pneumonia varies widely across Germany.

Unlabelled: Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) is a frequent and potentially fatal infectious disease which, in the majority of cases, needs an antibiotic intervention.

Objectives: Aim was to evaluate antibiotic treatment patterns regarding all types of mono- and combination-therapy throughout the local clinical centres (LCCs) represented in the German competence network CAPNETZ (=Community Acquired Pneumonia Network) and to identify clinical indicators for regional differences.

Methods: We analysed outpatients and inpatients recruited between March 2003 and April 2005.