[Possibilities of clinical and laboratory diagnosis of severe respiratory infections].

According to the WHO pneumonia are the third leading cause of death in low-and middle-income countries. In these countries, an important issue are also HIV/AIDS infections and tuberculosis. The clinical picture of severe pneumonia - outside hospital (community aquired pneumonia - CAP) and in-hospital (hospital-associated pneumonia - HAP & ventilator-associated pneumonia - VAP) is different similarly to laboratory examines results. In the etiology of infections the biological warfare pathogens were also included. The necessity of combining clinical assessment and laboratory tests was emphasized in difficult cases of respiratory infections.