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If you’ve ever had the flu, your mother or some older person in your family has probably told you to take care of it, or it might turn into pneumonia.
But is this just one of those old wives’ tales?
The short answer is no. In fact, whopping one-third of all cases of pneumonia in the United States are caused by respiratory viruses, and the flu is the most common of them all.
Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lungs, characterized by cough, fever, fatigue, and nausea. Often it’s pretty mild, and in healthy people it’s easily treated. But it can be lethal to those who are young, old, or chronically ill.
If the lungs get infected, after all, it’s going to be hard to breathe.
There are a few types of pneumonia, and some are more dangerous than others.
One type is community-acquired pneumonia, which happens when you get it from day-to-day interaction with people unwittingly carrying the virus.
Hospital-acquired pneumonia is what it sounds like. You get it from being in a healthcare facility.
Walking pneumonia is a mild form of bacterial pneumonia, but is still pretty gnarly. It feels like the flu, but with much more difficulty breathing and chest pains.
Avoiding pneumonia is pretty simple. All you have to do is practice good hygiene. All the time obviously, but especially around flu season. Smoking increases your chances of pneumonia, since the mechanisms meant to get rid of debris in your lungs are stopped cold by tobacco.
And of course, get vaccinated. Because the flu can develop into pneumonia, it’s best to cover your bases. If you’re really worried, the pneumococcal vaccine prevents one of the most common causes of bacterial pneumonia.
So stay clean, don’t smoke, and get vaccinated, and you’re sure to be just fine.
