Antonio M. Esquinas
Editor

2014

Pulmonary infections represent one of the main causes of development of severe acute respiratory insufficiency that requires hospital admission in pneumology wards and intensive care units. In this scenario, mechanical ventilation is cornerstone in severe forms. However, some types of pulmonary infections are characterized by severity and high risk of contamination, especially for health personnel and debilitated critically ill patients. These high-risk pulmonary infections are characterized by their great capacity for rapid spread and mortality, as determined in the current and past pandemics as SARS, swine flu and the classical outbreak infections of pulmonary tuberculosis or legionella pneumophila.