Pneumonia

AIDS science at 30: 'Cure' now part of lexicon

Big names in medicine are set to give an upbeat assessment of the war on AIDS on Tuesday, 30 years after French researchers identified the virus that causes the disease.

HIV & AIDS created May 18, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

India announces low-cost rotavirus vaccine (Update)

The Indian government announced Tuesday the development of a new low-cost vaccine proven effective against a diarrhea-causing virus that is one of the leading causes of childhood deaths across the developing world.

Medications created May 14, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Saudi health workers sickened by SARS-like virus

A deadly new respiratory virus related to SARS has apparently spread from patients to health care workers in eastern Saudi Arabia, health officials said Wednesday.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created May 16, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Asymptomatic carriage of M. pneumoniae common in children

The bacterium M. pneumoniae is carried at high rates in the upper respiratory tracts of healthy children and usual diagnostic tests cannot differentiate between such asymptomatic carriage and actual respiratory tract infect ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created May 14, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Genome sequencing provides unprecedented insight into causes of pneumococcal disease

A new study led by researchers from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the UK has, for the first time, used genome sequencing technology to track the changes in a bacterial population ...

Genetics created May 05, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Specific antibiograms needed for outpatients in primary care

(HealthDay)—Antibiograms, which are designed to help physicians select appropriate antimicrobials to treat bacterial pathogens, should be specifically tailored for outpatients in primary care settings, ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created May 11, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Implementation research and child diarrhea

While considerable recent progress has been made against childhood diarrheal diseases, the number of children dying from diarrhoea remains unacceptably high.

Pediatrics created May 14, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Finding a new way to manage infections

(Medical Xpress)—Waging an immunological war against a pathogen is not the body's only way to survive an infection. Sometimes tolerance, or learning to live with an invader, can be just as important. In tolerance the body ...

Immunology created Apr 29, 2013 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

France confirms first case of new SARS-related virus (Update)

A 65-year-old Frenchman is hospitalized after contracting France's first case of a deadly new respiratory virus related to SARS, and French health authorities said Wednesday they are trying to find anyone who might have been ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created May 08, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Nurse staffing ratios affect hospital readmissions for children with common conditions

A new study shows that pediatric nurse staffing ratios are significantly associated with hospital readmission for children with common medical and surgical conditions.

Health created May 08, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Save the Children teams up with pharma giant GSK in Africa

International development charity Save the Children is linking up with British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline in what both sides say is a unique collaboration to save children's lives in Africa.

Medications created May 10, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Azithromycin not tied to increased risk of CV death

(HealthDay)—The widely used antibiotic azithromycin (Zithromax or Zmax)—under scrutiny recently because it may increase the risk of death for those with existing heart disease—appears to be safe for ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created May 02, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Student's fast start in research contributes to life-saving rapid test

As if the story of breakthrough research were not enough, there is the story of the researcher. The accomplishment, in this case, is a rapid test for detecting devastating bacterial infections. The researcher ...

Medical research created May 08, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Breast milk protein complex helps reverse antibiotic resistance

A protein complex found in human breast milk can help reverse the antibiotic resistance of bacterial species that cause dangerous pneumonia and staph infections, according to new University at Buffalo research.

Medical research created May 01, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Half of Tamiflu prescriptions weren't taken in 2009 swine flu pandemic

Around half the antiviral drug Tamiflu that was prescribed during the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic was never used, researchers have discovered.

Medications created Apr 17, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast


Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs (alveoli)—associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space (consolidation) on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes. Infectious agents include: bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites.

Typical symptoms include cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. Diagnostic tools include x-rays and examination of the sputum. Vaccines to prevent certain types of pneumonia are available. Treatment depends on the underlying cause. Presumed bacterial pneumonia is treated with antibiotics.

Although pneumonia was regarded by William Osler in the 19th century as "the captain of the men of death", the advent of antibiotic therapy and vaccines in the 20th century have seen radical improvements in survival outcomes. Nevertheless, in the third world, and among the very old, the very young and the chronically ill, pneumonia remains a leading cause of death.

This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Latest Spotlight News

Researchers identify a potential new risk for sleep apnea: Asthma

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin have identified a potential new risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea: asthma. Using data from the National Institutes of Health (Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)-funded Wisconsin ...

Study finds that sleep apnea and Alzheimer's are linked

A new study looking at sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and markers for Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and neuroimaging adds to the growing body of research linking the two.

Computational tool translates complex data into simplified 2-dimensional images

In their quest to learn more about the variability of cells between and within tissues, biomedical scientists have devised tools capable of simultaneously measuring dozens of characteristics of individual ...

New theory on genesis of osteoarthritis comes with successful therapy in mice

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have turned their view of osteoarthritis (OA) inside out. Literally. Instead of seeing the painful degenerative disease as a problem primarily of the cartilage that cushions joints, ...

'Gap' for HIV vaccine efforts after latest setback

The hunt for an HIV vaccine has gobbled up $8 billion in the past decade, and the failure of the most recent efficacy trial has delivered yet another setback to 26 years of efforts.

Consuming coffee linked to lower risk of detrimental liver disease, study finds

Regular consumption of coffee is associated with a reduced risk of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), an autoimmune liver disease, Mayo Clinic research shows. The findings were being presented at the Digestive Disease ...

Ketamine shows significant therapeutic benefit in people with treatment-resistant depression

Patients with treatment-resistant major depression saw dramatic improvement in their illness after treatment with ketamine, an anesthetic, according to the largest ketamine clinical trial to-date led by researchers from the ...

Returning genetic incidental findings without patient consent violates basic rights, experts say

Informed consent is the backbone of patient care. Genetic testing has long required patient consent and patients have had a "right not to know" the results. However, as 21st century medicine now begins to use the tools of ...

Vicious cycle: Obesity sustained by changes in brain biochemistry

With obesity reaching epidemic levels in some parts of the world, scientists have only begun to understand why it is such a persistent condition. A study in the Journal of Biological Chemistry adds substantially to the st ...

White matter imaging provides insight into human and chimpanzee aging

(Medical Xpress)—The instability of "white matter" in humans may contribute to greater cognitive decline during the aging of humans compared with chimpanzees, scientists from Yerkes National Primate Research ...