Covid could lead to severe pneumonia: Doctors

Bengaluru: The World Pneumonia Day on Thursday was celebrated to raise the awareness of the disease. With Covid taking the centre stage in 2020, pneumonia draws a lot of attention as there have been several cases where people infected with novel coronavirus catch severe pneumonia.

"Pneumonia implies infection of the lungs and can be caused by various organisms that include viruses, bacteria, fungi and protozoan. The most common route of infection being inhalation. Patients have fever, cough with yellow or brown sputum, breathlessness and tiredness as common symptoms," said Dr. Vasunethra Kasaragod, Consultant Chest Physician, Vikram Hospital, Bengaluru.

"Early medical attention and diagnosis is imperative for early recovery. Patients are treated with antibiotics, oxygen and nebulisation most of the time. It's more common among immuno compromised individuals like diabetics, chronic kidney and cardiovascular disease patients etc. Hence keeping these diseases under control is necessary to prevent pneumonia. Vaccination against flu and pneumococcus is helpful to prevent severe infections," he suggested.

Explaining the risk factor, Dr Ravindra M Mehta, Senior Consultant & HOD - Pulmonology & Interventional pulmonology, Apollo Speciality Hospitals, Jayanagar said, "Pneumonia is an infection of the lower respiratory tract, and it can occur due to various causes, most of which are bacteria and viruses commonly. When a virus causes pneumonia, it is called viral pneumonia. Covid-19 is a virus which reaches the lower respiratory tract, and infects those areas. We call this Covid-19 related viral pneumonia. Covid-19 patients who are co-morbid are said to be at a higher risk of contracting pneumonia, and hence, are always advised to get vaccinated."