Life Health Sciences – Science Rules it All

Pneumonia is an acute respiratory illness that has recently developed radiological changes like segmental pulmonary shadowing or pulmonary shadowing that affects more than one lobe of lung.

Depending upon the setting pneumonia can be community acquired, hospital acquired or acquired by patients with impaired immune functions. The community acquired pneumonia causes one million hospital admissions per year in UK.

Spread and risk factors

Microorganisms causing community-acquired pneumonia spread by droplet infection (coughing, sneezing, nasal secretions). The patients are previously well, but have risk factors like cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, corticosteroid therapy, old age, recent influenza infection, lung disease and contact with sick birds or farm animals.