Participants
dyspnea, expectoration, fever, chest pain, cough, infection, immunodeficiencies
IMMUNODEFICIENCIES, COVID-19 (CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019), INFECTION
Adults aged 18 years or older admitted to the ED were invited to participate in the study if the attending physician suspected CAP and the patient had at least one of the following pulmonary symptoms: dyspnea, cough, expectoration, chest pain, or fever. Patients were excluded if: they could not deliver a sputum sample, participation delayed urgent treatment, the patient was transferred to an ICU, the patient had been admitted within the last 14 days, had Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection at admission, was pregnant, or had severe immunodeficiencies (HIV–positive, with a cluster of differentiation 4 cell count <200), treatment with immunosuppressive medicine (Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification L04A), corticosteroids (>20 mg/day prednisone or equivalent for >14 days within the last 30 days), or chemotherapy within 30 days [