Pneumonia

Every year, 7 million die from pneumonia worldwide. What is pneumonia and why is it so dangerous?

In pneumonia, the alveoli are infected with a virus or bacteria. This prevents the exchange of oxygen through the alveoli, making the disease often fatal without treatment. Thanks to the discoveries of antibiotics, mortality from pneumonia has been significantly reduced.

People with pneumonia obviously cough, but they also have a high fever and sweat profusely, they are short of breath and breathe shallowly, they have severe pain when breathing in or coughing and finally they sometimes have to cough up bloody mucus.

We must distinguish between pneumonia, tracheitis and bronchitis. In these last two conditions, it is the trachea and its branches respectively that are infected. These are usually viral infections, which are less dangerous and do not require antibiotics.

Author: Prof. Dr. Dirk Devroey - Latest update: 0000-00-00 - Copyright: Clinifacts 2024