ABSTRACT
By definition, hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) includes any case of pneumonia that starts at least 48 hours after hospital admission. Among intubated and mechanically ventilated patients, the development of HAP 48 hours or later is known as ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). There are approximately 300 000 cases of HAP annually in the USA, representing roughly 5-10 cases per 1 000 hospital admissions.1 Based on data from over 14 000 intensive care unit (ICU) patients in the US National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance (NNIS) System, HAP is the second most common nosocomial infection, affecting approximately 27 percent of all critically ill patients.2
