Pneumonia is an inflammatory disease of the lungs that affects many individuals, and can have serious consequences especially for the very young and the elderly. If not adequately treated pneumonia can lead to death.

Dr. Brett Hodge

What is pneumonia?
Pneumonia is a lung infection that can make you very sick. You may cough, run a fever, and have a hard time breathing. For most people, pneumonia can be treated at home. It often clears up in 2 to 3 weeks. Older adults, babies, and people with other diseases can become very ill and may need to be in the hospital.
You can get pneumonia in your daily life, such as at school or work. This is called community-based pneumonia. You can also get it when you are in a hospital or nursing home. This is called hospital-based pneumonia. It may be more severe because you already are ill. This article focuses on pneumonia you get in your daily life.
What causes pneumonia?
Organisms (germs ) called bacteria or viruses usually cause pneumonia.
Pneumonia usually starts when you breathe the germs into your lungs. Organisms can also reach the lung by aspiration or by the blood from a distant focus of infection in your body.
You may be more likely to get the disease after having a cold or the flu. These illnesses make it hard for your lungs to fight infection, so it is easier to get pneumonia. Having a long-term, or chronic, disease like asthma, heart disease, cancer or diabetes also makes you more likely to get pneumonia.
After you’ve been infected with a pneumonia-causing organism, it takes as little as 1 to 3 days, or as long as 7 to 10 days for symptoms to appear. How severe pneumonia is and how long it lasts depend on:
• Your age and health. Older, sicker people usually have more severe cases, and their pneumonia is more likely to have complications, such as bacteria in the bloodstream (bacteremia) or throughout the body (septicemia).
• Whether bacteria or a virus caused the pneumonia. Viral pneumonia usually is less severe than bacterial pneumonia.
• How quickly you treat it. The sooner you treat pneumonia, the sooner symptoms go away.
• Your immune system. People who have impaired immune systems are more likely to have more severe cases of pneumonia than people who have healthy immune systems.
In healthy people, pneumonia can be a mild illness that is hardly noticed and clears up in 2 to 3 weeks. In older adults and in people with other health problems, recovery may take 6 to 8 weeks or longer. If you have severe pneumonia, you may have to go to the hospital.
What are the symptoms?
The major symptoms of pnemonia occur in a variety of forms and vary from one person to another.
Symptoms of pneumonia caused by bacteria usually come on quickly. They may include:
• Cough. You will likely cough up mucus (sputum) from your lungs. Mucus may be rusty or green or tinged with blood.
• Fever.
• Breathing fast and feeling short of breath.
• Shaking and chills. You may have this only one time or many times.
• Chest pain that often feels worse when you cough or breathe in.
• Fast heartbeat (tachycardia).
• Feeling very tired or feeling very weak.
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Diarrhea.
Older adults may have different, fewer, or milder symptoms. They may not have a fever. Or they may have a cough but not bring up mucus. The main sign of pneumonia in older adults may be a change in how well they think. Confusion or delirium is common. Or, if they already have a lung disease, that disease may get worse.
Symptoms caused by viruses are the same as those caused by bacteria, but they may come on slowly and often are not as obvious or as bad.
How is pneumonia diagnosed?
Indivduals with signs and symptoms suggestive of pnuemonia should see a doctor who will take a detailed history and carry out a physical examination. He or she may order a chest X-ray and a blood test. The cause of a pneumonia cannot be accurately predicted by an X-ray but certain appearances are more typical of some organisms than others. Examination of the sputum is one of the most useful procedures to define a pneumonia’s etiology.
How is it treated?
Individuals with pneumonia caused by bacteria are treated with antibiotics. These can be given by mouth in some cases, but in the vast majoirty of severe cases of the antibioitcis are usually first given intravenously.
Your doctor will choose your antibiotic based on a number of things, including your age, your symptoms and how severe they are, and whether you need to go to the hospital.
Although experts differ on their antibiotic recommendations, the first antibiotic used usually is one that works against a wide range of bacteria (broad-spectrum antibiotic).
Pneumonia can make you feel very sick and you might need to be in hospital for a few days.
There are things you can do to feel better during your treatment. Get plenty of rest and sleep, and drink lots of liquids. Do not smoke. If your cough keeps you awake at night, talk to your doctor about using cough medicine.
You may need to go to the hospital if you have bad symptoms, a weak immune system, or another serious illness.
Pneumonia caused by a virus usually cannot be treated with antibiotics. Home treatment, such as rest and taking care of your cough, is the only treatment.
How can you prevent pneumonia?
If you are older than 65 or you have a heart or lung problem, you may want to get a pneumonia vaccine. It may not keep you from getting pneumonia. But if you do get pneumonia, you probably will not be as sick.
You can also lower your chances of getting pneumonia by staying away from people who have the flu, colds, measles, or chickenpox. You may get pneumonia after you have one of these illnesses.
Conclusion
Pneumonia is a major cause of illness and occurs in people of all ages, but people older than 65 years make up half of all the cases of community acquired pneumonia. Antibiotics are used to treat pneumonia caused by bacteria. In the vast majority of cases pnuemonia can be cured if diagnosed and treated in its early stages.

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