Box 1. Inclusion and exclusion criteria for cases and controls.

	CASES	CONTROLS
Inclusion criteria	Age 18 years or over Resident in Blantyre city Reported cough or chest pain or breathlessness or hemoptysis Reported fever or recorded fever (≥38°C) Crepitations or pleural rub or bronchial breathing Radiological changes judged to be new and consistent with pneumonia, without another obvious cause Requires hospitalisation	Age 18 years or over Resident in Blantyre city
Exclusion criteria	Pre–admission diagnosis of terminal illness (e.g., metastatic malignancy, terminal AIDS) Current anti–tuberculosis treatment or evidence of current tuberculosis infection Prior hospitalisation within the last 4 weeks Prior participation in the study Lives in a residential institution (e.g., prison) Death prior to follow–up assessment Alternative diagnosis explaining their presentation Symptoms for 14 days or more	Pre–admission diagnosis of terminal illness (e.g., metastatic malignancy, terminal AIDS) Current anti–tuberculosis treatment or evidence of current tuberculosis infection Hospitalisation for a pneumonia–like illness in the past 4 months or current pneumonia–like illness Prior participation in the study Lives in a residential institution (e.g., prison) Death prior to follow–up assessment Utilizes private health care facilities if has illness requiring hospitalisation

Note

For pragmatic reasons relating to resource availability, individuals could be recruited as a ‘provisional case’ prior to having a chest x-ray. Individuals were subsequently excluded if there was no evidence of pneumonia on chest x-ray or if they later met exclusion criteria (e.g. were commenced on tuberculosis treatment or died). Individuals were designated as a ‘case’ only when they had completed follow-up.