There are three Anglo-Saxon guidelines for the management of patients with a community-acquired pneumonia: an American, a British and a Canadian one. The guidelines correspond fairly well. There is a subdivision into categories according to whether the patients are treated at home (formerly healthy patients younger than 60 years versus patients with pre-existent disease or aged 60 years and more) or in the hospital (patients not needing intensive care versus those who do need it). For each category the most common causative micro-organisms are listed together with recommended antibiotic treatment. The Canadian guidelines have nursing home patients as a separate category because of slightly different causative organisms due to frequent microaspiration. The guidelines are applicable to the situation in the Netherlands, with a few exceptions: antibiotic resistance is not a major problem in the Netherlands (as yet), and contrary to what the guidelines state an agent with activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa is not necessary; the same agents as in category III can be prescribed in these patients. A macrolide or azalide antibiotic is advisable for intensive care patients in view of the possibility of infection with Legionella pneumophila or Mycoplasma pneumoniae.