By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Doctors may miss
some cases of pneumonia if they rely solely on their patient's
medical history and symptoms without the help of x-rays,
according to a new study from Europe. Dutch researchers, who
published their findings in the European Respiratory Journal,
found that of 140 patients who had their pneumonia diagnosed by
x-ray, doctors initially thought only 41 of them had the severe
lung infection. "That's worse than flipping a coin," said Dr.
Richard R. Watkins, who was not involved with the new research
but has studied how doctors diagnose pneumonia. "I think that's
an argument for doing chest x-rays," said Watkins, from Ohio's
Akron General Medical Center. People with pneumonia may have a
cough, fever, nausea, vomiting, chills or chest pain. Under some
circumstances, the infection can put someone in an intensive
care unit and even turn fatal. In 2009, the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention says about 1.1 million Americans
were hospitalized with