Pneumonia is an inflammatory infection of the lungs. In healthy people, pneumonia can be treated well, but it is still dangerous. Often pneumonia is not recognised and is carried over. People of all ages can get pneumonia, but children and older people are more susceptible.


Pneumonia can be contagious. Coughing and sneezing spread the infection triggers in the air, causing them to be breathed in by other people. Pneumonia is an infectious disease that can be caused by viruses, fungi or bacteria. Pneumonia caused by bacteria is characterised by rapid progression of the disease, chills, sweating, shortness of breath, high fever and mucus discharge. Viral pneumonia shows symptoms such as a mucusless cough, headache, muscle pain and fever. Later in the course of the disease, the cough is accompanied by clear or white mucus.
Pneumonia caused by fungi is one of the less common types of the disease. Usually there are no or only a few symptoms, such as a consistently strong cough, shortness of breath and fever. People with particularly weak immune systems are more susceptible to this form of pneumonia.

Pneumonia can develop without the sufferer noticing it right away. The symptoms can be mistaken for common colds and the course of the disease can progress gradually. Latent pneumonia can also be contagious and spreads where many people are in contact with each other.

Many forms of pneumonia are contagious in the same way as a cold, which is why many people believe that the disease is easily transmissible. In fact, the likelihood of contracting pneumonia is rather low. The germs are easily and quickly transmitted, but very few people develop pneumonia themselves. Whether the germs cause pneumonia depends mainly on the health of the lungs and the strength of the immune system.

There are vaccinations against pneumonia. This is useful for people over 60 years of age, with chronic illness or a weakened immune system. Children under 2 years of age or children with immune deficiencies can also be largely protected against pneumonia by a vaccination. The simplest way to prevent infection is to wash your hands frequently, as the pathogens very often enter the body this way.