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So what is pneumonia? I would say it is a condition of the body, just as fever or coma is a condition of the body. Pneumonia is a condition in which the lungs have weakened considerably, to the extent that lung tissues degenerate, the lungs are filled with fluids and the person has difficulty breathing - and might soon die.
If you really want to call it a 'disease' then I would say it is a "degenerative disease", more like heart disease, diabetes or cancer. For these, too, are conditions in which the body, or parts of it, have degenerated. Pneumonia is definitely not an "infectious" disease.
This is clear when you look at the so-called causes of pneumonia. The medical definition of infectious diseases is that they are 'caused' by 'disease causing agents' or pathogens.
Specific diseases are 'caused' by specific pathogens. For example, the flu is 'caused' by the flu virus, Aids is 'caused' by the HIV virus. Likewise, tuberculosis is 'caused' by the tuberculosis bacteria and cholera is 'caused' by the cholera bacteria. Everything fits in nicely. One type of virus or bacteria 'causes' one type of disease.
But what causes pneumonia? According to medical literature, the causes of pneumonia may be infection by virus, bacteria, fungi or protozoa. Or, if these causes have been ruled out, then the causes of pneumonia may be described as idiopathic - which is a fanciful way of saying "unknown".
Very different 'causes'
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Pneumonia from drugs
One of the causes of pneumonia that is seldom mentioned in the medical literature is the side effects of drugs. A case that made the headlines in Singapore recently involved the chief executive of DBS Bank, the country's biggest bank. He died on 11 April 2009 - just days after his chemotherapy treatment for leukemia was declared a success. His cancer was said to be in remission, but he died from "infection", most likely pneumonia infection. It is not uncommon that powerful drugs leave patients in a weakened state, making them vulnerable to pneumonia. This might explain why pneumomia is a leading cause of death in hospitals. But even drugs for minor problems like indigestion can increase the risks. The Journal of American Medical Association (Oct 27, 2004;292) reported that acid-suppressing drugs for acid reflux and heartburn significantly increased the risks of pneumonia. Researchers analysed the health records of 364,683 subjects, of whom 5,551 had pneumonia for the first time. They foundL
Also, within medical records of some 500,000 patients, researchers found that those using drugs to treat heartburn and indigestion were four times more likely to have pneumonia than nonusers. |
For a start, a bacteria is at least 100 times bigger than a virus. And a virus does not even have a life of its own. And while a bacteria is a single-cell organism, fungi and protozoa are more complex organisms like plants and animals. Click here to read more about the difference between virus, bacteria and other causes of pneumonia.
So how can organisms that are so vastly different 'cause' the same disease? Well, they cannot. So the world of medicine gets around this issue by inventing different types of pneumonia - viral pneumonia 'caused' by viruses, bacterial pneumonic 'caused' by bacteria, and so on.
But these are just names. Whether a person is suffering from viral pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia or some other type of pneumonia, the person has exactly the same symptoms of pneumonia - the lungs become weak, lung tissues detriorate, the lungs fill with fluids, the person has difficulty breathing... soon, the person dies.
To say that there are different types and causes of pneumonia is like saying that that there are different types and causes of fever - fever caused by virus, fever caused by bacteria, and so on. Or different types and causes of coma. But fever is simply fever. It is a condition in which the body temperature rises. Similarly, coma is simply coma - a conditon in which the person becomes unconscious.
Pneumonia is the same thing - it is a condition in which the lungs deteriorate and fill with fluids, causing breathing difficulty. Pneumonia is not a disease; certainly not an infectious disease.
'Catching' pneumonia
According to the germ theory of disease, infectious diseases are 'caught' through contact with virus, bacteria or other 'disease causing agents'. Since pneumonia is classified as an infectious disease, it means that a normal healthy person can suddently 'catch' pneumonia and become very ill.
Is this one of the causes of pneumonia? Hardly. We very seldom hear of normal, healthy people suddenly dying because they caught pneumonia. And even if there are a few such cases, we don't know if they might have some underlying weakness that was not previously apparent.
Diseases like Sars or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which suddenly appeared in 2003, might also be classified as a form of pneumonia and it is arguably infectious. So maybe some forms of pneumonia are infectious.
But then, Sars is a specific disease caused by a specific virus, unlike regular pneumonia which can be 'caused' by just about anything. Even is Sars were to be classified as a form of pneumonia, that merely means that pneumonia is sometimes infectious, but most of the time a condition that develops only after a person falls ill.
The vast majority of pneumonia patients are elderly people (who are likely to be weak) and those already ill. They might get the flu, or a throat infection, that later leads to pneumonia. Or, they might get pneumonia in the final stages of diseases like cancer and Aids. If only (or mostly) sick people get pneumonia, again this suggests that pneumonia is a condition that develops when a person's illness worsens, rather than a disease that is 'caught'.
Why is this important?
Why is it important to understand the true causes of pneumonia and whether or not it is an infectious disease?
For a start, you will not waste time - as well as money and your hopes - on vaccines for pneumonia. Most have already been proven to be ineffective. And the reasons are clear once you understand that there are so many different causes of pneumonia - and that the causes are very different indeed.
If at all medical science can develop a vaccine against so many different types of viruses, bacteria, fungi and protozoa, that would indeed be a great achievement. Sorry, scientists are not that brilliant. Click here to read about the ineffectiveness of pneumonia vaccination and pneumonia vaccine side effects.
Moreover, it is important to understand the causes of pneumonia because, in reality, more flu patients die from pneumonia than from the flu itself. Click here to learn more about flu deaths. When you understand the causes, you will know what to do - and what not to do - in order to help a pneumonia patient recover.
Once you understand that pneumonia is due to a weakening of the patient's condiction, and not due to 'catching' some microorganism, it becomes clear that the most important treatment consists of helping the patient recover his or her strength. You should not do anything that will further weaken the patient.
They may seem obvious. But doctors do exactly the opposite when they pump pneumonia patients with antibiotics and other strong drugs.
Antibiotics will only kill bacteria - and not all bacteria, but only some forms of bacteria. But since the causes of pneumonia also include virus, fungi and protozoa, antibiotics alone will not be enough. Meanwhile, antibiotics weaken and destroy the body's immune system, making the person more prone to attack by other pathogens.
To cover all grounds, doctors would have to also give pneumonia patients antiviral, anti-fungi and anti-protozoa drugs. These drugs are even stronger than antibiotics. They will weaken the patient even further.
Doctors with their medical technology do have a role to play in helping pneumonia recover. They can drain fluids from the lungs and provide other means, such as respirators, to help the patient breathe better. They can also alleviate so of the other symptoms of pneumonia.
Beyond that, pneumonia patients need to be nourished and strengthened - by tonic foods, fresh air, sunlight, massage and tender loving care... What they don't need is more drugs that produce more side effects. These will only hasten the patient's death.