Transcript
Sanjay Gupta (0:03)
Welcome to Paging Dr. Gupta. This is the podcast where I get to answer your health questions, which I love doing. You've been sending in some really great questions, so there's a lot to get to today. And Kira, who you're getting to know, one of our producers. She's back with me. Kira, what do we have first?
Kira Dehring (0:20)
Hey, Sanjay, Glad to be back. So, our first question today is coming from Mark in New York City. He's in his 50s and wants to know, how do I avoid pneumonia?
Sanjay Gupta (0:33)
All right, Mark, great question. Pneumonia has been in the news quite a bit lately and it can be a serious threat, especially as we get older. In fact, nearly a million older adults are hospitalized with pneumonia every year, and over a third of them will die within a year. So pneumonia can start to be this trajectory towards a pretty serious illness. While older adults are the ones that we typically think about facing the highest risk, it can also be severe for young children, for immunocompromised individuals and those with serious health conditions. Now, there's good news here in that there's a lot you can do to lower your risk. There are vaccines for pneumonia, specifically, typically for children. And then at age 50, with a possible booster at age 65, getting the flu shot. That can help prevent infections that can lead to pneumonia. And if you're eligible, there's also the RSV vaccine. This can offer some extra protection. The CDC recommends it for adults 75 and older and those who are 60 to 74 who are considered higher risk. So pneumonia, just keep in mind it's an infection of the lungs. There's the upper respiratory tract, there's the lower respiratory tract. Upper respiratory tract is going to be more in your throat, in your nose. Lower respiratory tract is pneumonia. Now, people can have bronchitis. That's typically an inflammation of the airways inside your lungs. But pneumonia is an actual infection. Typically, it's a bacterial infection actually caused by something known as streptococcus. Now, you can take antibiotics for that. You take antibiotics for bacterial infections, but there can also be viral pneumonias which would not respond to antibiotics. But about 60 to 70% of pneumonias are actually caused by bacteria. So the vast majority are going to be caused by bacteria. They can be diagnosed with a physical exam and a chest X ray. You may have also heard, Mark, I'll mention walking pneumonia. Walking pneumonia is kind of what it sounds like. It's a pneumonia where you can still be up walking around, so it's less severe. And oftentimes it is also diagnosed by physical exam and a Chest X ray. Interestingly, with a standard pneumonia, it typically affects one area of the lung, so one of the lobes of the lung. With the walking pneumonia, even though it is less severe in terms of symptoms, it does tend to affect all of the lungs. All the lobes of the lungs. But with walking pneumonia, you typically don't need to take antibiotics. You can typically treat that with over the counter medications. There are things that increase your risk and you should cut back on those things. Smoking is an obvious one. Heavy drinking that can weaken your immune system, make you more vulnerable. And as I'll talk about on this podcast all the time, supporting your immune system. Your immune system is constantly fighting off pathogens. It's doing it right now, probably. As you're listening to this podcast, you want to make sure your immune system is as strong as possible. Lots of fruits and veggies and whole foods. Regular exercise that helps release a lot of those pathogen fighting components in your blood. Even just brisk walking can go a long way. Prioritize good sleep. Your body needs that energy to be able to fight off infections. And you know, when you think about pneumonia, you think about respiratory infections. The way that they spread is by coughing and sneezing and putting those respiratory droplets into the air. Someone else can breathe those in. So you may want to protect yourself, especially if you're around sick people, by wearing a high filtration mask. Those droplets can also get on surfaces and people may touch those surfaces and then touch their eyes, their nose or their mouth. So make sure surfaces are clean. Make sure your hands are clean. Avoid people who are obviously sick. Be mindful of spending time in high risk settings where you think a lot of viruses are going to go around. So Mark, that's basically it. You can do a lot of things to try and prevent or at least reduce your risk of getting pneumonia. And you're already on the right track just for asking. Okay, we got time for one more question right after the break.