Smoking and Pneumococcal Infection

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Abstract
Smoking kills. Tobacco use was responsible for approximately one fifth of all deaths in the United States in 1990, with deaths due to cardiovascular diseases, cancer (especially of the lung), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among those attributable in part to smoking.1 In this issue of the Journal, Nuorti and colleagues2 present convincing evidence that adds invasive pneumococcal disease to the grim list of diseases associated with smoking. Invasive pneumococcal disease is defined as pneumococcal bacteremia, meningitis, or infection at other normally sterile sites. Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most common cause of community-acquired pneumonia, accounting for approximately 500,000 hospitalizations and . . .

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