Bacterial Pneumonia

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Medical Author:

George Schiffman, MD, FCCP

George Schiffman, MD, FCCP

Dr. Schiffman received his B.S. degree with High Honors in biology from Hobart College in 1976. He then moved to Chicago where he studied biochemistry at the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle. He attended Rush Medical College where he received his M.D. degree in 1982 and was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. He completed his Internal Medicine internship and residency at the University of California, Irvine.

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Medical Editor:

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

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• Bacterial Pneumonia Overview
• Bacterial Pneumonia Causes
• Bacterial Pneumonia Symptoms and Signs
• When to Seek Medical Care
• Bacterial Pneumonia Diagnosis
• Bacterial Pneumonia Treatment
• Self-Care at Home
• Medical Treatment
• Follow-up
• Bacterial Pneumonia Prevention
• Bacterial Pneumonia Prognosis
• Synonyms and Keywords
• Authors and Editors
• Viewer Comments: Pneumonia - Treatments
• Viewer Comments: Pneumonia - Describe Your Experience

Bacterial Pneumonia Overview

Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs. People with pneumonia usually complain of coughing, mucus production, fever, shortness of breath, and/or chest pain.

• Your body's immune system usually keeps bacteria from infecting your lungs. In bacterial pneumonia, bacteria reproduce in your lungs, while your body tries to fight off the infection. This response to bacterial invaders is called inflammation.



• When the inflammation occurs in the alveoli (microscopic air sacs in the lungs), they fill with fluid. Your lungs become less elastic and cannot take oxygen into the blood or remove carbon dioxide from the blood as efficiently as usual.



• When the alveoli don't work efficiently, your lungs are less able to extract oxygen from the air. This causes the feeling of being short of breath (dyspnea), which is one of the most common symptoms of pneumonia. Inflammation, your body's attempt to destroy this infection, causes many of the other symptoms, including fever and chest pain.



• Pneumonia can be very serious, because it directly interferes with your body's ability to exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen.



• Pneumonia is different in this way from acute bronchitis, which is another disease that can cause fever, cough, chest pain, and shortness of breath. Bronchitis is caused by inflammation in the air passages (called bronchi) leading to the alveoli, not the alveoli themselves. Sometimes it is very difficult, even for a doctor, to tell pneumonia and bronchitis apart. The symptoms and physical examination can be identical. Sometimes a chest X-ray is the only way to tell pneumonia and bronchitis apart. There is also an entity in which both the airways and air sacs are involved with infection, and this is referred to as bronchopneumonia.