Contents




Preface

cal management of pneumonias.

Pneumonia is a life-threatening inflammation of the air sacs, small airways, and surround‐ ing connective tissue. Pneumonia is caused by bacterial and viral organisms or by immune system–related interstitial disease of idiopathic origin. Infectious pneumonia afflicts millions of people worldwide across age groups. The highest mortality rates occur in children under 5 years of age, the elderly, and critically ill patients in hospitals. Environmental and socioe‐ conomic factors and access to health care underlie differences in morbidity and mortality rates from pneumonia in different parts of the world. The increasing incidence of antibiotic resistance and limitations in existing therapies are major public health concerns in the clini‐

The book *Contemporary Topics of Pneumonia* consists of eight chapters that combine systemat‐ ic reviews and investigations; global and clinical perspectives on bacterial, viral, and inter‐ stitial pneumonias; drug resistance; and natural remedies to eradicate carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae. In Section I, chapters examine the influence of environmental pollution, gender and hormonal influences, and the prospect of climate change on epidemiology and susceptibility to infectious and inflammatory lung disease. In Section II, chapters cover clini‐ cal, epidemiologic, diagnostic, bacteriological, multidrug resistance, and ecological aspects of community and health care–associated bacterial infections that devastate the efforts of medical practitioners in critical care facilities. Two chapters in Section II appraise the in‐ creasing prevalence, acquisition, and ecological aspects of carbapenem resistance in the mi‐ crobiome and evaluate the use of essential oils and nonantibiotic adjuvant chemotherapy as complementary approaches for the treatment of drug-resistant infection. Section III includes a comprehensive chapter on interstitial pneumonia as an autoimmune connective tissue dis‐

Written by clinical and research scientists who are directly involved in patient care and re‐ search on pneumonia, the compilation of topics in this book brings together reference, edu‐ cational, and research materials that meet the investigational interests of specialists, researchers, and students and informational needs of patients and general public. I would like to thank the authors for their contributions and diligent efforts in preparing the chapters

Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Microbiology and Immunology,

Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, USA

**Zissis C. Chroneos, PhD**

ease and a chapter that reviews viral etiologies of pneumonia.

and Romina Rovan at InTechOpen for facilitating the editorial process.

Chapter 8 **Pneumonia of Viral Etiologies 191** Al Johani Sameera and Akhter Javed
