Pneumonia is a killer disease but is not known by many in the country. Sometimes when a person dies of pneumonia, it is attributed to witchcraft just because people are not aware of the disease.

As the World Pneumonia Day was commemorated worldwide yesterday November 12, 2014, on the theme “Every breath counts. Stop pneumonia now,” statistics say pneumonia affects approximately 450 million people globally per year, seven per cent of population, and results in about 4 million deaths, mostly in developing countries. In 2013, almost one million children died of pneumonia, making it the number one infectious killer of children less than five years of age.

Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung affecting primarily the microscopic air sacs known as alveoli. It is usually caused by infection with viruses or bacteria and less commonly other microorganisms, certain drugs and other conditions such as autoimmune disease. Majority of the causes of pneumonia are caused by bacteria. It is a disease that can affect anybody from children to old. It is one of the major causes of death in children below five years.

Dr Pefurah Yone Eric Walters, a specialist at the Jamot Hospital said the disease can affect anybody both children and old people but the group of people who are more at risk are mostly people who already have incurable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, diabetes, chronic lung diseases. “When a person is suffering from one of these diseases he has the chances of being affected by pneumonia than people who do not have it,” he said.

Pneumonia and its symptoms can vary from mild to severe. The symptoms of pneumonia are usually fever, sharp or stabbing chest pain that gets worse when you breathe deeply or cough, headache, excessive sweating and clammy skin, loss of appetite, low energy, and fatigue, confusion, especially in older people.

Symptoms also can vary, depending on whether the pneumonia is bacterial or viral. Dr Pefurah said treatment depends on the cause of the pneumonia, how severe the symptoms are, and the age of the patient.

He said pneumonia is treated with antibiotics and that the treatment must be prescribed by a physician. Most healthy people recover from pneumonia in one to three weeks, but pneumonia can be life-threatening.

Pneumonia however, can be prevented by getting an annual flu shot, as flu often leads to pneumonia, frequently washing hands, and for people at high risk, getting a vaccine for pneumococcal pneumonia.