It represents a type of respiratory infection that directly affects the lungs. This occurs when microorganisms, such as viruses, bacteria or fungi, enter the interior of the alveoli and multiply inside it, producing an alteration in its functioning. The alveoli are small sacs that, in their normal condition, fill with air when you breathe, but when they are affected by pneumonia, they fill with pus and fluid, which causes pain when breathing and limits the absorption of oxygen.
Pneumonia mostly strikes people at the extreme ages, that is, children and the elderly. People with chronic diseases, those who receive chemotherapy, the immunosuppressed, such as transplant patients, and patients with HIV are also very prone to being infected by this disease.
The appearance of a respiratory infection of this type and its corresponding clinical picture are conditioned by a series of factors, among which the most important are: age, the season of the year, lifestyle habits and the allergic and immunological terrain of the affected person..
In this sense, age represents a dominant factor, since, while the affected person is younger, the infection causes more serious conditions.
Pneumonia can be classified from two points of view: anatomical and etiological.
Anatomical classification is based on the topographic extent of the point or focus of condensation. This is how lobar, segmental, lobar and interstitial pneumonia can be suffered.
For its part, the aetiological classification of pneumonias distinguishes them as follows: bacterial pneumonias, viral pneumonias, pneumonia caused by various agents, fungal pneumonia, and aspiration pneumonia.
Pneumonia can be located by means of a chest x-ray, since through this practice the inflammation suffered by the alveoli can be appreciated when they are affected by this disease.
As for the symptoms, they vary according to the person and the type of pneumonia they have, in some cases they present a cough with expectoration that can include blood and fever. There are cases where muscle pain, general malaise, headache and fatigue also occur.
Its transmission is also variable, it can be by air when inhaling the virus or the causative bacteria, through droplets produced in sneezes or coughs, or through blood.
This disease represents the main cause of infant deaths in the world. According to data released by the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2015, pneumonia was the cause of 15% of the total deaths of children under 5 years of age in the world, with a total of 922 thousand registered deaths.
