Editorial Response: Devising Strategies for Preventing Nosocomial Pneumonia--Should We Ignore the Stomach?

Nosocomial pneumonia is the hospital-acquired infection with the highest mortality. Difficulties in making the clinical diagnosis have led to limitations in designing effective thera-peutic strategies [1, 2]. Under the auspices of the American Thoracic Society, a multispecialty group (specialists in pul-monary and critical care medicine and infectious diseases) has suggested guidelines for the initial management of noso-comial pneumonia [3]. These guidelines provide an approach to the diagnosis and treatment of nosocomial pneumonia and to the evaluation of nonresponding patients; these guidelines also provide an overview of current strategies for the preven-tion of nosocomial pneumonia. In addition, a recently published document coauthored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Hos-pital Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HIC-