12. Antibiotic choice, route and duration: minimising the harm 155 associated with antibiotics Rosario Menendez, Beatriz Montull and Raul Mendez 13. Acute respiratory failure due to CAP 168 Miquel Ferrer 14. Early recognition and treatment of severe sepsis and septic 184 shock in CAP Anja Kathrin Jaehne, Namita Jayaprakash, Gina Hurst, Steven Moore, Michael F. Harrison and Emanuel P. Rivers 15. Early outcomes in CAP: clinical stability, clinical failure and 205 nonresolving pneumonia Stefano Aliberti and Paola Faverio 16. Non-antibiotic therapies for CAP 219 Paola Faverio and Marcos I. Restrepo 17. Inhaled corticosteroids as a cause of CAP 234 Peter M.A. Calverley 18. Macrolides as anti-inflammatory agents in CAP 243 Waleed Salih, Philip M. Short and Stuart Schembri 19. Cardiovascular complications and comorbidities in CAP 256 Stefan Krüger and Dirk Frechen 20. Pneumococcal and influenza vaccination 266 Mathias W. Pletz and Tobias Welte CME credit application form 285 C O P E C O M M I T T E E O N P U B L I C A T I O N E T H I C S This journal is a member of and subscribes to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics.