ABSTRACT
Nursing home residents tend to be frailer, to have more medical problems, and to use more medications than community-living elderly. The majority of nursing home patients are cognitively impaired and therefore less able both to manage their personal hygiene and to give a clear history when they become sick. Age-related changes that predispose to infection are summarized in Table 1. Because of these health impairments and cognitive limitations, the elderly living in the nursing home may manifest infections in unusual forms (see Table 2).
