Continued

Pneumonia

The most common respiratory disease is pneumonia, simply defined as an inflammation of the lungs. The smart books define several different types of pneumonia (focal, lobar, lobular, diffuse, etc), which, for our discussions, are not of any prime interest. If I had to define the types of pneumonia, I would base my differentiation on the causative agents (bacteria, viruses, fungi, toxins, parasites, aspirated foreign bodies) and not on the place of action and infection. Also, I like to differentiate whether the pneumonia is of a recent onset (acute) or whether the symptoms have been exhibiting themselves for weeks/months (chronic).

The initial problem in pneumonia seems to originate from a sudden increase in the flora (bacteria) in the nasal passages. This results in a sudden…..