1.2 Study population
The patients with acute upper respiratory tract infection (AURTI) or community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) were enrolled with the RPSS network every month. AURTI patients were included if they presented with fever and/ or respiratory symptoms, e.g., cough, sputum production, and sore throat. Pneumonia patients were included if they had evidence of CAP according to Guidelines of Diagnosis and Treatment for Community-Acquired Pneumonia among Adults in China (released in 2013 by Chinese Thoracic Society, Chinese Medicine Association)[13-15], and further classified as severe community-acquired pneumonia (SCAP) and non-severe community-acquired pneumonia (NSCAP) based on illness severity according to the guidelines described previously[16].