Microbial Etiologies of Hospital‐Acquired Bacterial Pneumonia and Ventilator‐Associated Bacterial Pneumonia

Hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia (HABP) and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia (VABP) can be caused by a wide variety of bacteria that originate from the patient flora or the health care environment. We review the medical and microbiology literature and the results of the SENTRY Antimicrobial Surveillance Program (1997-2008) to establish the pathogens most likely to cause HABP or VABP. In all studies, a consistent 6 organisms (Staphylococcus aureus [28.0%], Pseudomonas aeruginosa [21.8%], Klebsiella species [9.8%], Escherichia coli [6.9%], Acinetobacter species [6.8%], and Enterobacter species [6.3%]) caused approximately 80% of episodes, with lower prevalences of Serratia species, Stenotrophomonas…