Take care: Pneumonia isn’t just a wintertime illness

As people age, their immune systems weaken, making them more vulnerable to contracting serious, potentially life-threatening illnesses, such as pneumonia.

"Elderly people are more susceptible to pneumonia," says Dr. Jessica Cox, a primary health care physician at Southeast Primary Care in Cape Girardeau.

Dr. W. Keith Graham, a physician at Cape Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, concurs.

"Older people (age greater than 65) have a higher frequency of pneumonia and severity of infection," he says. "This is likely related to change in the ability of the body's defense mechanisms, a change in the types and quantities of exposures and the accumulation of other illnesses that impact the lungs and the immune system."

About 1 million people suffer from the disease each year, according to numbers released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those, 50,000 die.

Senior man sitting on bed, tipping pills into hand

There are two types of the pneumonia: viral and bacterial.

Viral pneumonia is more common in younger people. Bacterial pneumonia is most prevalent in older people, and according to Graham, accounts for about 75 percent of cases in that age group.

"For older people, one of the more common causes of pneumonia is Streptococcus pneumoniae," he says.

While pneumonia is not contagious, the germs causing it can be passed from person to person.

"Most pneumonia is acquired from the inhalation of the microorganisms into the lower airways," explains Graham. "Other possible causes include spread from a local or distant site of infection, or aspiration of oral or gastric contents into the lung."

Symptoms of pneumonia include a productive cough, often with shortness of breath, fever and chills. People also may experience pain along their ribs.

Sometimes the disease can cause other symptoms that may seem unrelated, like a change in mental status of a decline in function.

"People may not be able to dress themselves," Cox says, "especially in a nursing home setting."

A chest X-ray confirms the diagnosis.

Like so many diseases, there are common-sense precautions people can take to keep from getting sick.

"Things like basic hygiene, hand-washing and cleaning surfaces, as well as minimizing contact with sick people, are recommended," Cox says.

Keeping other illnesses, or co-morbidities, such as diabetes, in check also is important.

And the age-old advice of eating right also applies to avoiding pneumonia.

"A healthy diet and control of other medical conditions often helps the immune system and prevents infection," Graham says.

Both doctors say smoking increases the risk of getting pneumonia, and also can hinder treatment.

Smoking kills cilia, tiny hairlike fibers in the lungs, which brush out debris and work to keep the lungs clear of mucus.

Cox says it's important to get medical treatment early on to prevent pneumonia from becoming more serious.

"People can be in ICU for months and can die from it," she says.

Most of the time, however, a course of antibiotics can get things under control, so hospitalization is not necessary.

Both physicians recommend getting a flu shot in the fall each year, and there now are immunizations specifically targeting pneumonia.

Cox says the CDC recommends a Prevnar 13 injection for patients who are 65 and older or who have compromised immune systems, followed by a different vaccination the next year. It's called PPSV23 (it covers 23 strains of the disease), and it is marketed under the brand name Pneumovax.