Pneumonia

This lung infection can kill, so it should always be taken seriously

Pneumonia –

how to spot it and fight it

Pneumonia means

inflammation of our lung cells (alveoli). Their walls become

swollen with fluid that makes it harder for oxygen and carbon dioxide to exchange in the bloodstream.

Around 1% of us get community acquired pneumonia (CAP) each year – 100,000 people are admitted to hospital in England alone. This is only a tiny proportion of the millions of us who get coughs, colds or bronchitis. Usually self-treatable (see

Ways to ease a new cough, right), they occasionally require antibiotics.

Causes and risks

Most pneumonias are caused by inhaled bacteria. Some

are due to ‘flu, other viruses or rarer infections such as legionnaire’s disease. We’re more likely to develop CAP if we’re older, frail, smoke or drink heavily, already have diabetes or existing cardiovascular, lung or immune system problems, or neurological conditions that affect breathing. People in hospital are also at increased risk.

The symptoms

You’ll have a cough, fever, feel and look very unwell, and feel unusually breathless, with green phlegm, perhaps containing bright-red or rusty-brown blood. You may have sharp chest pain when breathing, your blood pressure may fall and you may become confused or develop sepsis.

Your doctor will be able to detect abnormal sounds in your chest, assess your pulse and breathing rates, and check your blood pressure and blood-oxygen levels.

Contagiousness

Some of the germs that cause pneumonia do spread from person to person, so you may be infectious, depending on which type you’ve contracted. However, not everyone who is exposed to the same germs will necessarily develop pneumonia, and fungal pnuemonia isn’t contagious.

The treatment

Milder CAP can often be treated at home with selfcare and antibiotics, but you’ll feel weak and tired afterwards – and recovery is said to take a week for every decade of your age.

If you’re frail and vulnerable or your condition deteriorates, you’ll need to go into hospital for a chest X-ray, scan, heart trace and blood tests, IV antibiotics and, if necessary oxygen treatment. Sadly, over 5% of people admitted with pneumonia will die – and

this figure rises for those who need to be treated in an intensive care unit (ICU).