Pope Francis, who remains hospitalized, has a bilateral pneumonia, said the Vatican Tuesday.
The term simply means pneumonia in both lungs, said dr. James Musser, director of the center for infectious Diseases at the Houston Methodist Research Institute. He added that, without examining a patient, he could not say anything specific about his condition.
In general, pneumonia is an infection of the small airways of the lungs. While the body mounts an inflammatory response, small pockets in the lungs are filled with immune cells; Symptoms can include fever, cough and chills. To diagnose the disease, a doctor generally asks the patient to say a long “and”, as if the person sang. Through a stethoscope, the “and” of a patient with pneumonia sounds like an “a”, said dr. Paul Pottinger, professor of infectious diseases at the University of Washington.
Most people with pneumonia resumes well at home and should not be hospitalized. But for the elderly, pneumonia can be “a fatal situation”, they said experts in infectious diseases.
Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the University of California, in San Francisco, added that “the mortality rate increases after 85 years”. The Pope is 88 and there is no part of a lung after a lung surgery in 1957.
The most probable cause of pneumonia is an infection caused by a bacterium, Streptococcus pneumoniae, according to Dr. Chin-Hong. “The cause n. 1, 2 and 3 of pneumonia is the stroke pneumonia,” he said.
The disease can respond to antibiotics, but bacteria can sometimes pour from the lungs and the rest of the body, with consequent sepsis, a dangerous situation. A vaccine can help mitigate this risk of sepsis but does not prevent the condition, said dr. Chin-Hong.
Dr. Pottinger observed that although the stream pneumonia can involve both lungs, it is usually limited to a loby lobe. Most bilateral pneumonia said, they are caused by viruses, including influence or other bacteria. Other causes include the respiratory syncial virus, or RSV, Legionella, MyCoplasma and Chlamydia, said Dr. Pottinger.
He agreed with Dr. Chin-Hong on the probable gravity of the Pope’s conditions.
“It’s a very frightening situation,” said dr. Pottinger.