Pneumonia is inflammation and infection of the lungs, causing difficulty breathing, cough and chest pain. Pneumonia can either affect one or both lungs and there are various forms of the disease. The most common causes of pneumonia are: pulmonary infection with viruses (influenza, herpes simplex virus, varicella-zoster, adenovirus, respiratory syncytial virus), gram positive bacteria (Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes) and gram negative bacteria (Haemophilus influenzae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitides, Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Pneumonia can also be caused by infection with mycoplasmas (Mycoplasma pneumoniae), small infectious agents that share the characteristics of both viruses and bacteria.
Who Should Receive the Pneumonia Vaccine?
Pneumonia is a common pulmonary disease and it has a high incidence in children and elderly people. Although pneumonia can also occur in adults, people with a good general health and a strong immune system usually develop milder forms of the disease. Pneumonia affects around 3 million people in the United States each year. Although there are medical treatments for pneumonia, some forms of the disease are still considered to be life-threatening. Statistics indicate that almost 5 percent of hospitalized patients diagnosed with pneumonia die as a result of complication.