Symptoms of Pneumonia

Pneumonia symptoms occur in all patients with pneumonia, whether they have walking pneumonia, aspiration pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia, or viral pneumonia.

Pneumonia symptoms occur when there is an infection in the lungs. Bronchitis symptoms occur when there is an infection in the airways leading from the mouth and nose to the lung. The symptoms of bronchitis and pneumonia are quite similar, and often a chest x-ray is needed to differentiate between the two diagnoses.

Pneumonia symptoms and bronchitis symptoms can include cough, fever, chest pain, shortness of breath, rapid heart rate, rapid breathing, and production of sputum with cough. Elderly people can have pneumonia without the classic pneumonia symptoms, and often will present with nothing more than confusion and cough.

People with bronchitis symptoms will not have any evidence of an infiltrate on the chest x-ray, but people with pneumonia will have evidence of changes. Often the treatment of pneumonia symptoms and bronchitis symptoms can be similar, however patients with pneumonia are generally sicker and many times will require hospitalization for intravenous antibiotics.

Symptoms of Pneumonia often do not lead directly to the underlying diagnosis and many symptoms can be misleading. Please review all concerns and information found on this website with your health care provider.