pneumonia

/nəˈmoʊnjə/

/nɪˈmʌʊniə/

Other forms: pneumonias

Pneumonia is a lung infection that gives you a cough and a fever and generally makes it difficult to breathe. If you catch pneumonia, you may end up in the hospital.

You've probably had people warn you not to go out in the rain without an umbrella or out in the cold without a hat or scarf because you’ll catch pneumonia. While they have your best interests in mind, you don’t actually get pneumonia from being cold or wet. Pneumonia is caused by viruses or bacteria. It’s a pretty common disease, but unfortunately it can be very serious in some cases, particularly in young children and elderly people.

Definitions of pneumonia

1. noun

   a serious illness that causes tiny air sacs in the lungs to fill up with fluid or mucous, making it difficult to breathe; caused by bacteria or viruses
   types:

   bronchial pneumonia, bronchopneumonia

   pneumonia characterized by acute inflammation of the walls of the bronchioles

   lobar pneumonia

   pneumonia affecting one or more lobes of the lung; commonly due to streptococcal infection

   pneumococcal pneumonia

   pneumonia caused by bacteria of the genus pneumococcus

   interstitial plasma cell pneumonia, pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, pneumocystis pneumonia, pneumocytosis

   pneumonia occurring in infants or in persons with impaired immune systems (as AIDS victims)

   pleuropneumonia

   pleurisy and pneumonia

   viral pneumonia

   pneumonia caused by a virus

   double pneumonia

   lobar pneumonia involving both lungs

   Legionnaires' disease

   acute (sometimes fatal) lobar pneumonia caused by bacteria of a kind first recognized after an outbreak of the disease at an American Legion convention in Philadelphia in 1976; characterized by fever and muscle and chest pain and headache and chills and a dry cough

   aspiration pneumonia

   inflammation of the lungs caused by inhaling or choking on vomitus; may occur during unconsciousness (anesthesia or drunkenness or seizure or cardiac arrest)

   type of:

   respiratory disease, respiratory disorder, respiratory illness

   a disease affecting the respiratory system