The INHALE research trial ran from July 2019 to August 2021, in 13 hospitals across England, testing samples from patients with different types of pneumonia, which are lung infections that are likely to need antibiotics.
INHALE tested whether new, faster ways of finding the cause of lung infections could improve ‘antibiotic stewardship’ for patients in hospital with pneumonia.
Antibiotic stewardship makes sure that patients who need antibiotics get the right ones and that they are not used when they are not needed. Using antibiotics in the correct way is important, otherwise, they may not work when people become unwell in the future.

Our team has worked hard to analyse the data collected and we are now able to share the results of the trial.