Infections of the respiratory tract are amongst the most common infections, particularly in patients visiting General Practitioners. In many cases they are endogenous - caused by microbes in the patient's commensal flora. Cytology has an important role to play in the diagnosis of infectious disease, especially in the immunocompromised host population. However a diagnosis must be made in conjunction with knowledge of the patients clinical history and the results of microbiological and virological investigations. This section deals with those criteria that are helpful in the diagnosis of the more commonly encountered respiratory infections.

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