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Can you have the flu and pneumonia together?

Can you have the flu and pneumonia together?

Influenza never turns into pneumonia, but predisposes a person to developing the illness. Knowing the symptoms of both influenza and pneumonia are important, but can be difficult since they often share the same signs.

What should I do if I have the flu and pneumonia?

Call your doctor right away if you or your child has a cold or the flu that doesn’t get better with rest and treatment, if the symptoms start to get worse, if you have other medical problems or a weakened immune system, or if you notice possible symptoms of pneumonia.

What happens when the flu turns into pneumonia?

Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs that causes the alveoli to become inflamed. This causes symptoms such as cough, fever, shaking, and chills. Pneumonia can develop and become a serious complication of the flu. It can be especially dangerous and even deadly for people in high-risk groups.

How does swine flu affect the lungs?

H1N1 swine flu is an acute disease that infects the upper respiratory tract and can cause inflammation of the upper respiratory passages, trachea, and possibly the lower respiratory tract.

Does pneumonia feel like flu?

The symptoms of viral pneumonia usually develop over a period of several days. Early symptoms are similar to influenza symptoms: fever, a dry cough, headache, muscle pain, and weakness. Within a day or two, the symptoms typically get worse, with increasing cough, shortness of breath and muscle pain.

Is pneumonia worse than the flu?

In the spectrum of respiratory illnesses, the flu is generally worse than the common cold. Pneumonia, meanwhile, can be more serious than both, especially for young children and the elderly.

How bad does pneumonia have to be to be hospitalized?

Pneumonia can be life-threatening if left untreated, especially for certain at-risk people. You should call your doctor if you have a cough that won’t go away, shortness of breath, chest pain, or a fever. You should also call your doctor if you suddenly begin to feel worse after having a cold or the flu.

Is Vicks VapoRub good for pneumonia?

The doctor was surprised and maybe amused when I mentioned this home remedy. A. We are impressed that Vicks VapoRub on the soles of the feet actually helped a serious cough that signaled pneumonia. We do NOT recommend toughing it out with a home remedy as long as your hubby did.

How quickly does flu turn into pneumonia?

With influenza pneumonia, for example, someone may become sick as soon as 12 hours or as long as 3 days after exposure to the flu virus. But with walking pneumonia, a person may not feel it until 2 to 3 weeks after becoming infected.

How long does swine flu last?

The symptoms of swine flu (H1N1), including fever, chills, cough, and body aches, last about eight days, on average. Some symptoms may continue longer than that. However, most people can go back to school or work 24 hours after their fever goes away completely without using medications that reduce fever.

Does H1N1 cause permanent lung damage?

Swine flu has caused permanent pulmonary damage to some patients in Finland. In Kuopio, five people who were in intensive care with the H1N1 virus developed serious lung problems. Some people with these complications were basically healthy before they contracted swine flu, and were not in any risk group.

How do you feel when you have pneumonia?

Early symptoms are similar to influenza symptoms: fever, a dry cough, headache, muscle pain, and weakness. Within a day or two, the symptoms typically get worse, with increasing cough, shortness of breath and muscle pain. There may be a high fever and there may be blueness of the lips.

Do you still get sick from swine flu?

Since then, people have continued to get sick from swine flu, but not as many. While swine flu isn’t as scary as it seemed a few years ago, it’s still important to protect yourself from getting it. Like seasonal flu, it can cause more serious health problems for some people. The best bet is to get a flu vaccine, or flu shot, every year.

How did the swine flu spread to humans?

Plus, swine influenza viruses often mutate (via Nieman Foundation ). Pigs, as it turns out, can be infected by human influenza, as well as avian viruses. Pigs can also cause new influenza types if they have two or more influenza viruses, which is what happened with the 2009 swine flu.

Is there a link between flu and pneumonia?

Most cases of flu never lead to pneumonia, but those that do tend to be more severe and deadly. In fact, flu and pneumonia were the eighth leading cause of death in the United States in 2016. For both influenza and some types of pneumonia there are protective vaccines, although none are 100 percent protective.

What was the name of the swine flu virus?

The swine flu virus was controversial as far as its name was concerned. As explained by Reuters in April 2009, WHO later succumbed to pressure from the meat industry to start referring to the virus as influenza A (H1N1) instead of labeling it swine flu. At that point, the virus was said to have targeted over 250 people.