Imaging of community-acquired pneumonia: Roles of imaging examinations, imaging diagnosis of specific pathogens and discrimination from noninfectious diseases

Table 1 Specific imaging findings¹ of representative pathogens for community-acquired pneumonia

Pathogens	Specific imaging appearances
Streptococcus pneumoniae	Alveolar/lobar pneumonia
Mycoplasma pneumoniae	Bronchopneumonia with bronchial wall thickening affecting central bronchi
Chlamydophila pneumoniae	Infectious bronchiolitis with bronchial dilatation
Legionella pneumophila	Sharply marinated peribronchial consolidations within ground-glass opacities
varicella-zoster	Scattered nodules with a random distribution
Tubercle bacillus	Tree-in-bud appearance with finer and denser branching opacities than bronchopneumonia of common bacteria (postprimary tuberculosis)
Cryptococcus neoformans	Multiple nodules/masses with or without cavities in the same pulmonary lobe
Pneumocystis jirovecii	Bilateral patchy ground-glass opacities with a geographic distribution

¹Note that these imaging findings may be fairly specific but are not sensitive (i.e., other imaging findings are also not uncommon.) for these pathogens.