Could pneumonia be causing your cough?

Pneumonia is expected to take the lives of 50,000 adults this year

IT STARTS with a sore throat, runny nose, sneezing and a cough, just like a common winter cold. But pneumonia is expected to claim the lives of 50,000 adults this year. It is only behind heart attack, stroke and cancer as the UK's major killer.

 

One of the biggest myths surrounding pneumonia is that it only affects the very old or very young. But while these groups are vulnerable to the bacterial infection anyone can develop it. Approximately 66,000 people of all ages are hospitalised due to pneumococcal pneumonia in the UK every year at an estimated cost to the NHS of £217million.

It is thought the number of hospital admissions due to pneumonia has risen by 34 per cent over the past 10 years partly due to an ageing population and the fact that bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics.

Last month an inquest in London heard how a five-year-old girl died after doctors mistook the deadly bacterial infection for a common cold virus.

Little Fizzah Malik from Walthamstow in east London, slipped into unconsciousness as she was being fed in her father's arms and died five days after developing a temperature and rash. A post mortem examination found her death was caused by pneumonia, exacerbated by a virus that resulted in sepsis.

Where it is left untreated it can cause serious illness and even death

Dr Ben Marshall

 

Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas, 41, left, was struck down with the illness last Christmas and needed hospital treatment although he fully recovered.

This week sees the launch of the Expect The Unexpected campaign which aims to dispel some of the confusion surrounding the illness. Pneumonia is usually the result of a bacterial infection.

It causes the tiny air sacs in the lungs to become inflamed and fill up with fluid. White blood cells then travel to the lungs to fight off the infection, which makes it difficult for the lungs to carry oxygen from the air into the bloodstream and around the body.

 

Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas was struck down with the illness last year

The most common type is caused by the bacteria streptococcus pneumoniae, known as pneumococcus. Symptoms often start with a cough, fever and breathlessness leading sufferers to assume they have a winter virus.

"We find there is still a lot of confusion between pneumonia and a 'really bad cold'," says Dr Ben Marshall, a consultant in respiratory medicine and pneumonia expert at University Hospital Southampton.

"Symptoms are very similar, including cough, fever and shortness of breath. However pneumonia is usually much worse and is an infection that requires antibiotics and can sometimes lead to hospitalisation."

The risk of pneumonia increases with age, especially for those aged over 45, or already suffering chronic conditions such as serious heart or kidney problems. Pollution, smoking and the weather are also risk factors.

Even when pneumonia is successfully treated it can take up to six weeks to fully recover. "Even after recovery many people continue to suffer from shortness of breath and fatigue, often preventing them from going about their day-to-day activities for a number of weeks," says Dr Marshall."

  

Pneumonia symptoms often start with a cough

PNEUMONIA can scar the lungs and leave sufferers prone to further infections. "Where it is left untreated it can cause serious illness and even death," says Dr Marshall. "As we get older our chances of contracting pneumonia increase and so the public needs to know their risk, recognise the symptoms and protect themselves."

More than 90 different strains of the pneumococcal bacterium have been identified, although only between eight and 10 of them cause the most serious infections. Babies receive the pneumococcal (PCV) which is given to all children under two years old as part of the NHS childhood vaccination programme. It is given as three separate injections, at two months, four months and 12-13 months and protects against 13 strains of the pneumococcal bacterium.

Over-65s are given a single pneumococcal vaccination (PPV) which will protect for life. It is not given annually like the flu jab and protects against 23 strains of the infection.

However many older people who are eligible for the free pneumonia vaccine fail to take up the jab because they believe they are not at risk. Others wrongly believe that the flu jab protects against pneumonia. The pneumococcal vaccine is thought to be around 50 to 70 per cent effective at preventing pneumococcal disease.

•World Pneumonia Day is on Thursday November 12. For more information visit nooneexpects.co.uk

 

Are you running the risk of developing the illness

• Are you over 45? 

• Do you have a long-term medical condition?

• Do you have a weakened immune system?

• Do you smoke?

• Do you have flu?

Seek medical help if have the following symptoms:

• A cough which can be dry with yellow, green, brown or blood-stained phlegm

• Difficulty breathing

• Fever (very high temperature with shivering or sweating)

• Chest pain which gets worse when breathing or coughing

• Fatigue