World Pneumonia Day, November 12, brings people from all over the world together uniting to demand that something be done to fight the pneumonia illness. World Pneumonia Day helps to highlight the severity of pneumonia and encourages more organisations to look at ways of combating the disease.

The theme for this year’s World Pneumonia Day is ‘Championing the fight to stop pneumonia.’

Pneumonia is a form of acute respiratory infection that affects the lungs. It is most commonly caused by virus or bacteria. Any infection causing an inflammatory response in the lung is referred to as pneumonia.

Though the majority of pneumonia is caused by bacterial infections, viral infections like influenza or Covid 19 virus can also affect the lungs and can cause serious inflammatory damage to them. In Covid times rise in atypical bacterial infections leading to pneumonia which is also called “Walking Pneumonia” caused by organisms like Mycoplasma, Leptospira, oriented (scrub typhus), etc, is also seen which usually causes milder disease and can be effectively treated with antibiotics.

       Viral pneumonia is slightly different from bacterial pneumonia in a clinical presentation like the patient will be having rapid progression of symptoms with high-grade fever and severe breathlessness and cough dragging the patient to the hospital, Also, while bacterial pneumonia is predominantly localized to an area of the lung and are unilateral, viral pneumonia is randomly distributed in all areas of both lungs varying from small patches or ground glass opacities to extensive consolidations. Viral pneumonia is usually contagious as it spread through droplets

LEARNING FROM HOME/ WITHOUT CLASSES/BASICS

Pneumonia is a form of acute respiratory infection that affects the lungs. The lungs are made up of small sacs called alveoli, which fill with air when a healthy person breathes. When an individual has pneumonia, the alveoli are filled with pus and fluid, which makes breathing painful and limits oxygen intake.You may cough, run a fever, and have a hard time breathing.Pneumonia is the single largest infectious cause of death in children worldwide.
Causes

Pneumonia is caused by a number of infectious agents, including viruses, bacteria and fungi.

Transmission

Pneumonia can be spread in a number of ways. The viruses and bacteria that are commonly found in a child’s nose or throat, can infect the lungs if they are inhaled. They may also spread via air-borne droplets from a cough or sneeze. In addition, pneumonia may spread through blood, especially during and shortly after birth.