

Each lung is made of lobes, which are defined sections of the lung. Lobar pneumonia affects one or more lobes of your lungs. These are the tubes that lead from your windpipe to your lungs. It’s often localized close to or around your bronchi. Pneumonia may be classified based off the area of the lungs it’s affecting: Bronchopneumoniaīronchopneumonia can affect areas throughout both of your lungs. However, in walking pneumonia, the bacteria Mycoplasma pneumoniae most commonly causes the condition. Viruses and bacteria, like Streptococcus pneumoniae or Haemophilus influenzae, often cause pneumonia. The symptoms of walking pneumonia can include things like: However, walking pneumonia may require a longer recovery period. Their symptoms may feel more like a mild respiratory infection than pneumonia. People with walking pneumonia may not even know they have pneumonia. Walking pneumonia is a milder case of pneumonia. It’s more likely to occur if you have a swallowing problem, or if you’re too sedated from the use of medications, alcohol, or other drugs. Inhaling bacteria into your lungs from food, drink, or saliva can cause aspiration pneumonia. When people who are using a ventilator get pneumonia, it’s called VAP.

Pneumonia is further classified according to where or how it was acquired:

It does not spread from person to person. You can contract fungal pneumonia from the environment. You can also get these types of pneumonia by coming into contact with surfaces or objects that are contaminated with pneumonia-causing bacteria or viruses. This means they can spread from person to person through inhalation of airborne droplets from a sneeze or cough. These sacs, called alveoli, fill with fluid or pus, making it difficult to breathe.īoth viral and bacterial pneumonia is contagious. It leads to inflammation in the air sacs of one or both lungs. Pneumonia is an infection caused by bacteria, viruses, or fungi.
