Pneumonia Pūkahu kakā

You get pneumonia by breathing in bacteria, viruses or other germs, which then infect your lungs. When your immune system attacks the infection, it causes swelling (inflammation) in the air sacs (alveoli) at the end of your small airways and in the surrounding lung tissue. Your air sacs can also fill with infected fluid or pus, which makes it hard to breathe.

You can get pneumonia in one lung, or both lungs — this is called double pneumonia. 

How pneumonia affects the lungs — BUPA Health UK video YouTubeexternal link

The symptoms of pneumonia include:

• a cough — often with mucus (sputum or phlegm) that is yellow-green, rusty or sometimes blood-stained
• shortness of breath
• a high temperature (over 38°C), with shivers, sweats, aches and pains
• a sharp chest pain when you breathe — this happens if the lining around your lungs is inflamed (a condition called pleurisy).

Older people might not have a fever or any specific symptoms, but you might notice that they are confused or agitated.

Pneumonia can be serious and sometimes life-threatening. It is more common and can be more severe in:

• older people
• people with poor health
• people with existing lung disease
• people with poor immune function.

To diagnose pneumonia, your healthcare provider will ask you to describe your symptoms and examine you.

You may also need to:

• have chest x-ray
• give a sputum (phlegm) sample
• have a swab of mucus taken from your nose.

It is important to tell your healthcare provider if you have:

• been gardening with potting mix
• been overseas recently.

These activities can lead to different lung infections that need different treatment.

Pneumonia is usually treated with antibiotic tablets. If the infection is severe, you may need to be admitted to hospital to:

• have oxygen therapy
• be given antibiotics through a vein (intravenously).

If your pneumonia is caused by a virus such as the flu, antibiotics will not help. But it is often difficult to tell if pneumonia is caused by bacteria or a virus, so antibiotics may be prescribed even when the cause is not certain.

Your healthcare provider may decide you are well enough to stay at home with antibiotic tablets. You should go back to be checked within a few days.

If your infection is more severe or you have other health conditions, you may need to be treated in hospital.

If you have pneumonia, it is important to:

• get plenty of rest and sleep
• drink plenty of fluids
• not smoke and avoid alcohol.

You can take paracetamol or anti-inflammatory medicine like ibuprofen to help with the fever and pains.

If you have been prescribed an antibiotic and are not feeling better after for 3 days after you start taking them, tell your healthcare provider. You might need to take a different antibiotic.

It usually takes between 2 and 12 weeks to recover from pneumonia, but it can take longer.

This is a general guide for what to expect as you recover.

• 4 days — your fever should be gone
• 4 weeks — your chest should feel better and you should produce less mucus
• 6 weeks — you should be coughing less and find it easier to breathe
• 3 months — most of your symptom should be gone, though you still may feel tired
• 6 months — most people will feel back to normal.

There are ways you can reduce your risk of developing pneumonia including:

• not smoking — this is the most important way of reducing lung infections
• making sure you have a flu vaccination every year — especially if you have a long-term health condition such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
• keeping up to date with the recommended additional doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Flu vaccineexternal link

COVID-19 vaccine additional dosesexternal link

Some people with specific health issues should get the pneumococcal vaccine. Talk to your healthcare provider about whether this applies to you.

Pneumococcal vaccineexternal link