IT’S NOT GOOD
Pneumococcal pneumonia
could take you out of your
daily routine for weeks.
How Bad Is It Page
overview
Overview
Pneumococcal pneumonia is an infectious, potentially serious bacterial lung disease you can catch anytime, anywhere. In severe cases, it can put you in the hospital and even be life-threatening.
Pneumococcal pneumonia can be passed from person to person. You can catch it from a cough or close contact.
Many people think it’s a cold or the flu, but it’s not.
Unlike a cold or the flu, which are caused by viruses, pneumococcal pneumonia is caused by bacteria. Symptoms can be severe and hit you without warning. In fact, it can take weeks before you feel like yourself
causes
Causes
Many people think you get pneumonia in the hospital, but hospitals aren’t the only places you can catch it.
In fact, it's more common to catch pneumonia, including pneumococcal pneumonia, while you're out in the community going about your everyday
Pneumococcal pneumonia is caused by bacteria, not a virus.
The bacteria that cause pneumococcal pneumonia are called Streptococcus pneumoniae.
These bacteria can spread from person to person through coughing or close contact. When these bacteria get into the lungs, they can cause some of the alveoli (air sacs in the lungs) to become inflamed and fill with mucus. This is what causes pneumococcal pneumonia symptoms such as chest pain, coughing, and difficulty breathing.
symptoms
Symptoms
Pneumococcal pneumonia can come on quickly. Some of its symptoms appear suddenly and may include chest pain and difficulty breathing, a high fever, shaking chills, excessive sweating, fatigue, and a cough with phlegm that persists or gets worse. It can take weeks before you feel like yourself
SYMPTOMS OF PNEUMOCOCCAL PNEUMONIA
Roll over the graphic to see some of the many ways pneumococcal pneumonia can affect your body.
Tap the graphic to see some of the many ways pneumococcal pneumonia can affect your body.
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Temperature up to 105° F
Excessive sweating
Shaking chills
Chest pain
Difficulty breathing
Productive, phlegmy cough
Shortness of breath
Nails can turn blue from lack of oxygen in the blood
severity
Severity
Pneumococcal pneumonia can take you out of your daily routine for several weeks. In severe cases, it can put you in the hospital. The average hospital stay, for those requiring hospitalization, is 6 days. In severe cases, pneumococcal pneumonia can even be life-threatening. Naturally, individual symptoms and severity may vary.
At 65 or older, the risk of hospitalization with pneumococcal pneumonia is over 10X greater than adults aged 18–49.
Many people who get pneumococcal pneumonia find they still feel significant health effects of the disease for weeks—or even longer.
Part of the lung becomes inflamed and fills up with mucus, causing shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.