Pneumonia Overview

How often have you walked into an old age home and heard the nurse saying “shame that lady has pneumonia” and on the other side of the spectrum in children’s hospitals the nurse says “that newborn baby has pneumonia and is on a ventilator that is supplying oxygen helping the baby to breathe.” What is pneumonia? The simple answer is the onset of pneumonia is an infection that can be caused by inhaling liquid, dust, food, gas and by various fungi.

What Is Pneumonia?

Pneumonia is an infection that can affect one or both lungs, which can be caused by bacteria, fungi or viruses. It causes inflammation in the lung air sacs that fill with fluid or pus causing breathing difficulties. Depending on the severity, symptoms can range from mild to life threatening. Factors such as age, overall health, the type of inflammation and the organism causing the infection are important.

Major types of pneumonia include bacterial which can develop after a serious colds or flu, viral usually caused by respiratory viruses, and mycoplasma, which is not bacteria or virus related, causes mild onsets of pneumonia in older children and young adults. No person is immune to pneumonia.