# A question for med profs about pneumonia.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-med-profs-about-pneumonia/175753>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 16, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-med-profs-about-pneumonia/175753 "2003-05-16T19:26:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-med-profs-about-pneumonia/175753/1 "2003-05-16T19:26:54Z")

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I’ve been home sick all week. After seeing the doc earlier this week, I had a chest x-ray and apparently I have pneumonia. (FWIW, if you’re thinking of fun diseases to try on for size, I’d skip this one, it’s not a lot of fun).

Anywho, after getting the test results and a script for Biaxin, I forgot to ask about contagiousness. Specifically I have a 21 month old daughter (in addition to a wife) that I would be most worried about. What’s the story on contagiousness…what can I do to help prevent the spread (assuming it’s not too late)?

TIA

dave

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**Author:** ![Whiskey-Hotel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e68b1a/32.png) [@Whiskey-Hotel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey-Hotel)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-med-profs-about-pneumonia/175753/2 "2003-05-16T20:07:57Z")

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From [Kidshealth.org](http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/pneumonia_p2.html)

> [@](#):
>
> \ ***Description:**  
> Pneumonia is a lung infection that can be caused by different types of germs, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. Although different types of pneumonia tend to affect children in different age groups, pneumonia is most commonly caused by viruses. Some viruses that cause pneumonia are adenoviruses, rhinovirus, influenza virus (flu), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and parainfluenza virus (the virus that causes croup).
> 
> **Contagiousness:**  
> The viruses and bacteria that cause pneumonia are contagious and are usually found in fluid from the mouth or nose of an infected person. Illness can spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes on a person, by sharing drinking glasses and eating utensils, and when a person touches the used tissues or handkerchiefs of an infected person.\*

So do whatever you do not to spread a cold/flu in general. Since it’s some viral/bacterial infection that caused you to develop the pneumonia, you need to prevent the spread of that virus/bacteria.

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**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-med-profs-about-pneumonia/175753/3 "2003-05-16T20:08:21Z")

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There are many causes of pneumonia. The majority are due to infection, but some are not (usually the latter entities are referred to as ‘pneumonitis’).

In any case, for pneumonia due to infection, there are many potential infectious culprits. Many are self acquired (i.e. bugs that normally live in/on us can sometimes go on to infect the lung, say when you aspirate your saliva or when your resistance is down for whatever reason). This type of pneumonia is usually not contagious. The classic ‘pneumococcal pneumonia’ is an example of this type.

Other types of infectious pneumonia are acquired from other people or even from the environment. These are often contagious. SARS is topical example of this type of pneumonia.

So, it depends.