Community-acquired pneumonia is pneumonia in people who have not recently been in the hospital or another health care facility (nursing home, rehabilitation facility). All patients diagnosed with “bird flu” show signs of pneumonia, although symptoms may be mild. When you have pneumonia, air sacs in your lungs fill with pus or other liquid and oxygen has trouble reaching your blood.
Although the disease can occur in young and healthy people, it is most dangerous for older adults, babies, and people with other diseases or impaired immune systems. People with pneumonia usually complain ofcoughing, mucus production, fever, shortness of breath, and/or chest pain. Viral pneumonias are usually not very serious, but they can be life-threatening in very old and very young patients, and in people whose immune systems are weak.
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