The lungs are comprised of very tiny sacs called alveoli. This is where the oxygen that we inhale comes into contact with circulating blood through capillaries, or tiny blood vessels, and where the oxygen is exchanged. In pneumonia, those tiny sacs become filled up with infectious material.
Who is at highest risk for pneumonia?
Among adults, risk increases with age. So the older you are, the greater the likelihood to get pneumonia. If you're a smoker, you have a slightly greater increased risk because smoking diminishes the lung's capacity to fight infection.
Anyone who is a drug abuser or an alcoholic, who has impaired levels of consciousness that can affect the gag reflex, would be at increased risk because they can inhale their own throat secretions. Patients who are immunocompromised for one reason or another, whether they're taking systemic corticosteroids for something like asthma or if they're receiving chemotherapy or radiation therapy for cancer, would be at increased risk.
What are common symptoms?
The symptoms can really be divided into two categories: typical respiratory symptoms and nonrespiratory symptoms. Respiratory symptoms would include cough, coughing up mucus, shortness of breath and chest pain. A less common respiratory symptom would be coughing up blood.
Then there are a variety of nonrespiratory symptoms, the most common of which—and probably the number-one symptom overall—is fatigue, which is present in about 90 percent of patients. You can also get headache, muscle aches, abdominal pain, fever and chills.
