Major Symptoms Of Pneumonia

Productive Coughing

An individual who is experiencing episodic or continuous productive coughing may have pneumonia. Coughing is another defense mechanism of the body that helps remove any foreign objects, pathogens, and excess mucus from the lungs. The pathogens responsible for causing pneumonia infections make their way into the lungs, where the immune system detects it. Neutrophils and other immune system components converge into the affected area of the lung to engulf the pathogens and destroy them. This immune defense mechanism causes an increase in mucus production to facilitate the processes and protect the tissues of the lung. Excessive and chronic coughing causes this sputum to become dislodged, and then coughed out of the lung. The characteristics of the mucus coughed up by an affected individual can indicate the presence of particular pathogens. Rust-colored mucus coughed up from the lung often occurs in pneumonia caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae. Green sputum is most associated with Hemophilus, Pseudomonas, and pneumococcal species. Red jelly-like sputum is known to occur when pneumonia is caused by the Klebsiella species. Bad tasting or foul-smelling sputum is known to be caused by anaerobic pneumonia infections.

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