Why Pneumonia That Lata Mangeshkar was Battling With is Common Among Elderlies

On February 6, legendary playback singer Lata Mangeshkar died after a prolonged battle with pneumonia and Covid-19. If health experts are to be believed, both children and old people easily fall prey to pneumonia, and this is because of the weak immune system.

Dr AK Singh, a member of the Indian Chest Society and a well-known pulmonologist in Delhi, says that pneumonia can be the next major form of Covid-19. This is especially true if a person reports pneumonia after they have been diagnosed with Covid-19.

Ever since Covid-19, the number of fungal pneumonia patients has increased rapidly within the country. Pneumonia entails a fungus of the lungs that is very clearly visible in an X-ray test. If a patient has sepsis, it makes pneumonia dangerous. In sepsis, pneumonia reaches blood through the lungs.

At least 5 to 10 percent of pneumonia patients, who have to be admitted to the hospital, face the threat of death. If these patients have to be kept in the ICU, then the mortality rate goes up to as high as 30 percent. The immune function of the patient is responsible for it.

Dr Singh says that since the physical immunity of older people is not very high, pneumonia weakens their bodies to a great extent. While medicines try to fight bacteria, the body’s immune system is not able to register an appropriate response, In such a situation, it becomes difficult to battle the disease.

One cannot really expect quick relief from this disease. It takes a lot of time for the patient to recover. After you have already had a Covid-19 infection, the chances of getting a secondary bacterial infection are very high. This means that in such cases, pneumonia is nothing but an extension of Covid-19. In this, the lungs will get damaged. In such a situation, recovery takes months or the patient dies.

The elderly need special attention regarding pneumonia. If there is yellow-coloured mucus with cough and high fever, then it is pneumonia. The patient may have pain on one side or both sides of the chest.

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