Pope Francis, who stays hospitalized, has bilateral pneumonia, the Vatican mentioned on Tuesday.
The time period merely means pneumonia in each lungs, mentioned Dr. James Musser, director of the middle for infectious illnesses on the Houston Methodist Analysis Institute. He added that, with out inspecting a affected person, he couldn’t say something particular about his situation.
Basically, pneumonia is an an infection of the small airways of the lungs. Because the physique mounts an inflammatory response, small pockets within the lungs fill with immune cells; signs can embody fever, cough and shaking chills. To diagnose the sickness, a health care provider sometimes asks the affected person to say an extended “e,” as if the particular person had been singing. By way of a stethoscope, the “e” of a pneumonia affected person feels like an “a,” mentioned Dr. Paul Pottinger, a professor of infectious illnesses on the College of Washington.
Most individuals with pneumonia recuperate nicely at dwelling and don’t have to be hospitalized. However for older individuals, pneumonia may be “a lethal state of affairs,” infectious illness consultants mentioned.
Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, professor of drugs and infectious illnesses on the College of California, San Francisco, added that “the mortality fee goes up after age 85.” The pope is 88, and is lacking a part of one lung after pulmonary surgical procedure in 1957.
The almost definitely reason behind pneumonia is an an infection brought on by a bacterium, Streptococcus pneumoniae, in response to Dr. Chin-Hong. “The No. 1, 2 and three reason behind pneumonia is strep pneumonia,” he mentioned.
The sickness can reply to antibiotics, however micro organism can generally spill out of the lungs and into the remainder of the physique, leading to sepsis, a harmful state of affairs. A vaccine will help mitigate this sepsis threat however doesn’t forestall the situation, Dr. Chin-Hong mentioned.
Dr. Pottinger famous that, though strep pneumonia can contain each lungs, it normally is confined to 1 lobe of 1 lung. Most bilateral pneumonia, he mentioned, is brought on by viruses, together with influenza, or different micro organism. Different causes embody respiratory syncytial virus, or R.S.V., Legionella, mycoplasma and chlamydia, Dr. Pottinger mentioned.
He agreed with Dr. Chin-Hong in regards to the doubtless gravity of the pope’s situation.
“It’s a very scary state of affairs,” Dr. Pottinger mentioned.
