NURS 6521N-02 Advanced Pharmacology Week 4: Respiratory System Discussion: Pharmacotherapy for Respiratory Disorders Main Discussion Post Arcangelo and Peterson defines pneumonia as a lung infection that leads to consolidation the alveoli that are normally air filled. It occurs in all age groups but the elderly (those older than 65 years of ag) and the young (those less than 2 years of age) are most at risk. In the U.S. community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) ranks 8 th as the leading cause of death and the most common cause of death from a source of infection (Arshad, Fasanya, Cheema, & Singh, 2016). The estimated mortality rate of CAP is 5%, but increases to 10% in patients admitted to a health care facility and up to 30% in those admitted to an intensive care unit (Arshad et al., 2016). In patients with no risk factors for drug resistant S. pneumoniae who were previously healthy macrolide antibiotics such as Zithromax, Biaxin, and erythromycin are recommended. In