Pneumonia is an inflammation of the airspace (alveoli; singular alveolus) in the lung most commonly caused by infections. Bacteria, viruses, or fungi (infrequently) can cause the infection. There are also a few noninfectious types of pneumonia that are caused by inhaling or aspirating foreign matter or toxic substances into the lungs.
Some cases of pneumonia are life-threatening. Around 50,000 people die each year of pneumonia in the U.S. Although anyone of any age can be affected, pneumonia is more common in elderly people and often occurs when the immune system becomes weakened via a prior infection or another condition.
Pneumonia is generally more serious when it affects older adults, infants, and young children, those with chronic medical conditions, or those with weakened immune function.
According to the CDC, about 3%-17% of patients with COVID-19 develop lung-related complications that require hospitalization, such as pneumonia.
There are several types of pneumonia. The most common bacterial type that causes pneumonia is Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Most cases of pneumonia begin with symptoms similar to those of a cold or the flu that lasts longer than the flu (about seven to 10 days) and become more severe.
Allopathic antibiotics treat pneumonia (accept viral) by controlling bacterial or fungal infections. The initial choice of allopathic antibiotic depends on the organism presumed to be causing the infection as well as local patterns of antibiotic resistance.
Pneumonia can be fatal in up to 30% of severe cases that are managed in the intensive care setting.
Complications of pneumonia include sepsis, pleural effusion, and empyema.
Viral Pneumonia
Influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are the most common viral causes of pneumonia.
Antiviral medications may be used to treat pneumonia caused by some types of viruses.
Most kinds of bacterial pneumonia are not highly contagious, but tuberculosis and Mycoplasma pneumonia are exceptions.
Signs and Symptoms of Pneumonia
Pneumonia often starts with symptoms typical of a cold or upper respiratory infection, like sore throat, nasal congestion, and cough. As the infection develops in the lung, high fever is apparent along with chills and a cough that produces thick sputum. Chest pain can occur if the outer layer (pleura) of the lungs is involved in the inflammatory process.
Severe symptoms of pneumonia include:
- cough,
- chest pain when breathing or coughing,
- labored breathing or shortness of breath,
- coughing up phlegm,
- fever,
- chills, and
- fatigue.
Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea are other possible symptoms that can accompany respiratory symptoms.
Infants and newborns may not show specific symptoms of pneumonia. Instead, the baby or child may appear restless or lethargic. A baby or child with pneumonia may also have a fever or cough or vomit. Older adults or those who have weak immune systems may also have fewer symptoms and a lower temperature. A change in mental status, such as confusion, can develop in older adults with pneumonia.
Incubation Period of Pneumonia
The incubation period for pneumonia depends on the type of organism causing the disease, as well as characteristics of the patient, such as his or her age and overall health status. Most cases of pneumonia begin with symptoms similar to those of a cold or the flu that lasts longer than the flu (about seven to 10 days) and become more severe. The symptoms of pneumonia can occur from a few days to a week following the flu-like symptoms.
Types of pneumonia
Sometimes, types of pneumonia are referred to by the type of organism that causes the inflammation, such as bacterial pneumonia, viral pneumonia, or fungal pneumonia. The specific organism’s name may also be used to describe the types of pneumonia, such as pneumococcal (Streptococcus pneumoniae) pneumonia or Legionella pneumonia.
Other types of pneumonia that are commonly referenced include the following:
- Aspiration pneumonia develops as a result of inhaling food or drink, saliva or vomit into the lungs. This occurs when the swallowing reflex is impaired, such as with brain injury or in an intoxicated person.
- Several types of bacteria, including Legionella pneumophila, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and Chlamydophila pneumoniae, cause atypical pneumonia. It is sometimes called “walking pneumonia” and is referred to as atypical because its symptoms differ from those of other types of bacterial pneumonia.
- Pneumonia that arises from being on a ventilator for respiratory support in the intensive care setting is known as ventilator-associated pneumonia.
Stages of pneumonia
Pneumonia can be classified or characterized in different ways. Health care professionals often refer to pneumonia based on the way that the infection is acquired, such as community-acquired pneumonia or hospital-acquired pneumonia. 
- Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), as the name implies, is a respiratory infection of the lung that develops outside of the hospital or health care environment. It is more common than hospital-acquired pneumonia. CAP is most common in winter and affects about 4 million people a year in the U.S.
- Hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) is acquired when an individual is already hospitalized for another condition. HAP is generally more serious because it develops in ill patients already hospitalized or under medical care for another condition. Being on a ventilator for respiratory support increases the risk of acquiring HAP. Healthcare-associated pneumonia is acquired from other health care settings, like kidney dialysis centers, outpatient clinics, or nursing homes.
Other classification systems for pneumonia describe the way the inflammatory cells infiltrate the lung tissue or the appearance of the affected tissue (see the following examples).
- Bronchopneumonia causes scattered, patchy infiltrates of inflammation in the air sacs throughout the lungs. It is more diffuse than lobar pneumonia.
- Lobar pneumonia causes inflammation of one lobe of a lung and typically involves all the airspace in a single lobe.
- Lipoid pneumonia is characterized by the accumulation of fats within the airspace. It can be caused by the aspiration of oils or associated with airway obstruction.
Risk factors for pneumonia
There are a number of factors that increase the risk of developing pneumonia. These include:
- a weakened immune system, either due to diseases such as HIV/AIDS or cancer or to medications that suppress immune function;
- infants and children 2 years of age or younger;
- age 65 and older.
- having a chronic disease such as pulmonary disease (including cystic fibrosis and COPD), sickle cell anemia, asthma, heart disease, or diabetes;
- swallowing or coughing problems, as may occur following a stroke or other brain injury.
- being a patient in an intensive care unit of a hospital, particularly if on ventilator support;
- malnutrition; and
- Tobacco smoking.
Diagnose pneumonia
The diagnosis of pneumonia always begins with taking a medical history and performing a physical examination to look for characteristic signs. In particular, listening to the lungs may reveal areas where sound is diminished, wheezing or crackling sounds in affected areas. Some commonly performed diagnostic tests are as follows:
- A chest X-ray can illustrate whether or not pneumonia is present, but it does not provide information about the organism responsible for the infection.
- In some cases, a chest CT scan may be performed. This will reveal more detail than the chest X-ray.
- Pulse oximetry measures the amount of oxygen in the bloodstream. The test involves a painless sensor attached to the finger or ear. Blood levels of oxygen may be reduced in pneumonia.
- Microbiology tests to identify the causative organism. Tests may be performed on blood or sputum. Rapid urine tests are available to identify Streptococcus pneumoniae and Legionella pneumophila. Cultures of blood or sputum not only identify the responsible organism but can also be examined to determine which antibiotics are effective against a particular bacterial strain.
- Bronchoscopy is a procedure in which a thin, lighted tube is inserted into the trachea and major airways. This allows the doctor to visualize the inside of the airways and take tissue samples if needed. Bronchoscopy may be performed in patients with severe pneumonia or if pneumonia worsens despite antibiotic treatment.
Allopathic treatment for pneumonia 
Allopathic antibiotic medications are the allopathic treatment of choice for pneumonia caused by bacterial and fungal infections. The exact choice of medications depends on many factors, including the following:
- The organism responsible for the infection.
- The likelihood that the organism is resistant to certain antibiotics.
- The patient’s underlying health condition.
About 80% of cases of CAP can be managed at home with the patient taking oral antibiotics. There are numerous treatment regimens available. Initial treatment (before the causative organism has been identified) is called empiric treatment and is based upon the organisms most likely to be responsible for the illness. Once the exact organism has been identified in the laboratory and susceptibility testing performed to determine which antibiotics are effective, the treatment regimen can be further individualized. Over the counter (OTC) pain and fever-reducing medications may be recommended for some people in addition to antibiotics or antiviral drugs for symptom relief.
In around 20% of cases, CAP must be managed in the hospital, typically with intravenous antibiotics initially. HAP care is managed in the hospital, typically with intravenous antibiotics.
Allopathic antibiotics are not effective against viral pneumonia. Depending upon the type of virus that causes pneumonia, antiviral medications can provide benefits when started early in the course of the disease. For example, the medications oseltamivir and zanamivir are used to treat influenza virus infections.
Antifungal agents are used to treat most fungal pneumonia.
Vaccinations are available against several common organisms that are known to cause pneumonia.
Complications of pneumonia in case of allopathic treatment
There are a number of potential complications of pneumonia. The infection that causes pneumonia can spread to the bloodstream, causing sepsis.
- Sepsis is a serious condition that can result in lowering of blood pressure and failure of oxygen to reach the tissues of the body, resulting in the need for intensive care management.
- Another complication is the accumulation of fluid in the space between the lung tissue and the chest wall lining, known as a pleural effusion. The organisms responsible for pneumonia may infect the fluid in a pleural effusion, known as empyema.
- Pneumonia can also result in the formation of an abscess (collection of pus) within the lungs or airways.
Homeopathic Treatment for Pneumonia of any Type and stage
Agaricus Muscarius
Violent attacks of coughing that can be suppressed by effort of will, worse eating, pain in head while cough lasts. Spasmodic cough at night after falling asleep, with expectoration of little balls of mucus. Labored, oppressed breathing. Cough ends in a sneeze.
Pain, with sensitiveness of spine to touch; worse in dorsal region. Lumbago; worse in open air. Crick in back. Twitching of cervical muscles. Very sensitive to cool air. Violent attacks of heat in evening. Copious sweat. Burning spots.
Ipecacuanha
Dyspnea, constant constriction in chest. Asthma. Yearly attacks of difficult shortness of breathing. Continued sneezing; coryza; wheezing cough. Cough incessant and violent, with every breath. Chest seems full of phlegm but does not yield to coughing. Bubbling rales. Suffocative cough: child becomes stiff, and blue in the face. Whooping-cough, with nosebleed, and from mouth. Bleeding from lungs, with nausea; feeling of constriction; rattling cough. Croup. Hemoptysis from slightest exertion. Hoarseness, especially at end of a cold. Complete aphonia.
Ambra Gresia
Asthmatic breathing with eructation of gas. Nervous, spasmodic cough, with hoarseness and eructation, on waking in morning; worse in presence of people. Tickling in throat, larynx and trachea, chest oppressed, gets out of breath when coughing. Hollow, spasmodic, barking cough, coming from deep in chest. Choking when hawking up phlegm. Palpitation, with pressure in chest as from a lump lodged there, Palpitation in open air with pale face.
Drosera Rotundfolia
Affects markedly the respiratory organs and is the principal remedy for whooping-cough. Drosera can break down resistance to tubercle. Phthisis pulmonal; vomiting of food from coughing with gastric irritation and profuse expectoration. Spasmodic, dry irritative cough, whooping cough. yellow expectoration, with bleeding from nose and mouth, laryngitis. Rough, scraping sensation deep in the faucet and soft palate.
Causticum
Hoarseness with pain in chest; aphonia. Larynx sore. Cough, with raw soreness of chest. Expectoration scanty; must be swallowed. Cough with pain in hip, especially left worse in evening; better, drinking cold water; worse, warmth of bed. Sore streak down trachea. Mucus under sternum, which he cannot quite reach. Pain in chest, with palpitation. Cannot lie down at night. Voice re-echoes. Own voice roars in ears and distresses. Difficulty of voice of singers and public speakers.
Antimuonium Tartaricum
Rattling of mucus with little expectoration with drowsiness, debility and sweat, trembling of whole body, great prostration and faintness. Hoarseness. Rattling of mucus, but hard to expectorate. Burning sensation in chest. Cough excited by eating, with pain in chest and larynx. Edema and impending paralysis of lungs.
Coldness, trembling, and chilliness. Intense heat. Copious perspiration. Cold, clammy sweat, with great faintness. Intermittent fever with lethargic condition.
All symptoms worse, in evening; from lying down at night; from warmth; in damp cold weather; from all sour things and milk. Better, from sitting erect; from eructation and expectoration.
Chamomilla 
Hoarseness, hawking, rawness of larynx. Irritable, dry, tickling cough; suffocative tightness of chest, with bitter expectoration in daytime. Rattling of mucus in child’s chest.
Pulsatilla Pratensis
Capricious hoarseness; comes and goes. Dry cough in evening and at night; must sit up in bed to get relief; and loose cough in the morning, with copious mucous expectoration. Pressure upon the chest and soreness. Great soreness of epigastrium. Urine emitted with cough. Pain as from ulcer in middle of chest. Expectoration bland, thick, bitter, greenish. Short breath, anxiety, and palpitation when lying on left side. Smothering sensation on lying down.
Cina Maritima
Gagging cough in the morning. Whooping-cough. Violent recurring paroxysms, as of down in throat. Cough ends in a spasm. Cough so violent as to bring tears and sternal pains; feels as if something had been torn off. Periodic; returning spring and fall. Swallows after coughing. Gurgling from throat to stomach after coughing. Child is afraid to speak or move for fear of bringing on paroxysm of coughing. After coughing, moaning, anxious, gasps for air and turns pale.
Light chill. Much fever, associated with clean tongue. Much hunger; colicky pains; chilliness, with thirst. Cold sweat on forehead, nose, and hands.
Ammonium Carbonicum
Hoarseness. Cough every morning. Emphysema. Burning in chest. Asthenic Pneumonia. Rattling pulmonal sounds. Slimy sputum and specks of blood. Pulmonary edema.
All symptoms worse in warm, especially in morning (warm room/bed).
Sambucus Nigra
Chest oppressed with pressure in stomach, and nausea Hoarseness with tenacious mucus in larynx. Paroxysmal, suffocative cough, coming on about midnight, with crying and dyspnea. Spasmodic croup. Dry coryza. Sniffles of infants; nose dry and obstructed. Loose choking cough. When nursing child must let go of nipple, nose blocked up, cannot breathe. Child awakes suddenly, nearly suffocating, sits up, turns blue. Cannot expire. Millar’s asthma.
Dry heat while sleeping. Dreads uncovering. Profuse sweat over entire body during waking hours. Dry, deep cough precedes the fever paroxysm.
Conium Maculate
Dry hacking cough, almost continuous; worse, evening and at night, when lying down, talking or laughing, and during pregnancy. Expectoration only after long coughing.
The patient has a cough at night on lying down. They are restless at night and tend to sit up many times due to coughing spells. A tickling sensation in the throat pit may be prominently present. A few individuals may complain of an unusually dry spot in the larynx. In some cases, a headache on coughing may arise.
Hippozaeninum
Hoarseness. Pneumonia (any type). Noisy breathing; short, irregular. Cough, with dyspepsia. Excessive secretion. Suffocation imminent. Bronchitis in the aged, where suffocation from excessive secretion is imminent. Tuberculosis.
Spongia Tosta
A remedy especially marked in the symptoms of the respiratory organs, cough, croup, thyroid gland swollen. stitches and dryness in throat, burning stinging and sore throat etc. Tickling causes cough. Clears throat constantly. Laryngeal phthisis. Goiter.
Great dryness of all air-passages. Hoarseness: larynx dry, burns, constricted. Cough, dry, barking, croupy; larynx sensitive to touch. Croup; worse, during inspiration and before midnight. Respiration short, panting, difficult; feeling of a plug-in larynx. Cough abates after eating or drinking, especially warm drinks. Wheezing asthmatic cough, worse cold air and lying, head low and in warm, with profuse expectoration and suffocation. Oppression and heat of chest.
Swelling and induration of glands; also, exophthalmic; cervical glands swollen with tensive pain on turning head, painful on pressure; Goiter. Itching; measles.
Viola Odorata 
Pneumonia. Viral pneumonia. Dry short spasmodic cough and dyspnea; worse in daytime. Oppression of chest. Pertussis, with hoarseness. Dyspnea during pregnancy. Difficult breathing, anxiety and palpitation, with hysteria.
Corallium Rubrum
whooping and spasmodic coughs, especially when the attack comes on with a very rapid cough, and the attacks follow so closely as to almost run into each other. Often preceded by sensation of smothering, followed by exhaustion. Profuse, nasal catarrh. Cough that results from PND (postnasal dripping). Hawking of profuse mucus. Throat very sensitive, especially to air.
The cough appears in quick, short attacks that follow each other in quick succession, hysterical cough. Dry, spasmodic, suffocative cough; very rapid cough, short, barking, whooping-cough. Extreme exhaustion is felt along with the cough. A vital symptom that attends the above symptoms are extremely sensitive air passages to air (inhaled air feels cold).
Millifolium
Millifolium is and antiviral medicine. Cough with bloody sputa or in any lung disease with accompanying cough. Shortness of breath, difficulty in breathing, oppression of chest. Hemoptysis after injury or following violent exertion.
Natrum Muriaticum
Cough from a tickling in the pit of stomach, accompanied by stitches in liver and spurting of urine. Stitches all over chest. Cough, with bursting pain in head. Shortness of breath. Whooping-cough with flow of tears with cough and with salty sputum.
Kali Sulph
Rattling of mucus in chest. Post-grippe cough, especially in children. Bronchial asthma, with yellow expectoration. Cough; worse in evening and in hot atmosphere. Croupy hoarseness.
Pulsatilla Nigricans
Capricious hoarseness. Dry cough in evening and at night; must sit up in bed to get relief; and loose cough in the morning, with copious mucous expectoration. Expectoration bland, thick, bitter, greenish. Short breath, anxiety, and palpitation when lying on left side.
Heper Sulph
Cough troublesome when walking. Dry, hoarse cough. Cough excited whenever any part of the body gets cold or uncovered, or from eating anything cold. Croup with loose, rattling cough; worse in morning. Choking cough. Rattling, croaking cough; suffocative attacks; has to rise up and bend head backwards. Anxious, wheezing, moist breathing, asthma worse in dry cold air.
Phosphorus
Cough from tickling in throat; worse, cold air, reading, laughing, talking, from going from warm room into cold air. Sweetish taste while coughing. Hard, dry, tight, racking cough. Congestion of lungs. Burning pains, frothy or blood-stained sputum. The phlegm may be salty or sweet to taste. Strong odors may trigger a cough. Pneumonia, with oppression.
Arsenic Album 
Asthma worse midnight. Burning in chest. Suffocative catarrh. Cough worse after midnight; worse lying on back. Expectoration scanty, frothy. Darting pain through upper third of right lung. Wheezing respiration. Hemoptysis with pain between shoulders; burning heat all over. Cough dry.
Throat: Swollen, edematous, constricted, burning, unable to swallow. Diphtheritic membrane looks dry and wrinkled.
Bryonia Alba
Soreness in larynx and trachea. Hoarseness; worse in open air. Dry, hacking cough from irritation in upper trachea. Cough, dry, at night; must sit up; worse after eating or drinking, with vomiting, with stitches in chest, and expectoration of rust-colored sputa. Frequent desire to take a long breath; must expand lungs. Difficult, quick respiration; worse every movement; caused by stitches in chest. Cough, with feeling as if chest would fly to pieces; presses his head on sternum; must support chest. Croupous and pleuro-pneumonia. Expectoration brick shade, tough, and falls like lumps of jelly. Tough mucus in trachea, loosened only with much hawking. Coming into warm room excites cough. Heaviness beneath the sternum extending towards the right shoulder. Cough worse by going into warm room.
Throat: Dryness, sticking on swallowing, scraped and constricted. Tough mucus in larynx and trachea, loosened only after much hawking, worse coming into warm room.
Sambucus Nigra
Hoarseness with tenacious mucus in larynx. Paroxysmal, suffocative cough, coming on about midnight, with crying and dyspnea. Spasmodic croup. Dry coryza. Sniffles of infants; nose dry and obstructed. Loose choking cough. When nursing child must let go of nipple, nose blocked up, cannot breathe. Child awakes suddenly, nearly suffocating, sits up, turns blue. Cannot expire. Millar’s asthma.
Mephitis Putorius
Sudden contraction of glottis, when drinking or talking. Food goes down wrong way. False croup; cannot exhale. Spasmodic and whooping-cough. Few paroxysms in daytime, but many at night; with vomiting after eating. Asthma, as if inhaling Sulphur; cough from talking; hollow, deep, with rawness, hoarseness, and pains through chest. Violent spasmodic cough; worse at night.
Senega
Hoarseness. Hurts to talk. Bursting pain in back on coughing. Catarrh of larynx. Loss of voice. Hacking cough. Thorax feels too narrow. Cough often ends in a sneeze. Rattling in chest. Chest oppressed on ascending. Bronchial catarrh, with sore chest walls; much mucus; sensation of oppression and weight of chest. Difficult raising of tough, profuse mucus, in the aged. Asthenic bronchitis of old people with chronic interstitial nephritis or chronic emphysema. Old asthmatics with congestive attacks. Exudations in Pleura. Hydrothorax. Pressure on chest as though lungs were forced back to spine. Voice unsteadies, vocal cords partially paralyzed.
Throat: Catarrhal inflammation of throat and faucets, with scraping hoarseness. Burning and rawness. Sensation as if membrane had been abraded.
Mercurius Sulphuricus
Throat. Heat and sensation of constriction in throat. Dryness of tongue and throat. Burning in mouth and throat. Respiratory Organs. Roughness in throat and hoarseness. Sensation of heat in larynx. Increased expectoration of mucus from larynx” and trachea. Dyspnea; in children; hydrothorax.
Cina
Gagging cough in the morning. Whooping-cough. Violent recurring paroxysms, as of down in throat. Cough ends in a spasm. Cough so violent as to bring tears and sternal pains; feels as if something had been torn off. Periodic; returning spring and fall. Swallows after coughing. Gurgling from throat to stomach after coughing. Child is afraid to speak or move for fear of bringing on paroxysm of coughing. After coughing, moaning, anxious, gasps for air and turns pale.
Coccus Cacti
Constant hawking from enlarged uvula; coryza, with inflamed faucets; accumulation of thick viscid mucus, which is expectorated with great difficulty. Tickling in larynx. Sensation of a crumb behind larynx, must swallow continually; brushing teeth causes cough. Faucets very sensitive. Suffocative cough: worse, first waking, with tough, white mucus, which strangles. Spasmodic morning cough. Whooping cough attacks end with vomiting of this tough mucus. Chronic bronchitis complicated with gravel; large quantities of aluminous, tenacious mucus, are expectorated. Walking against wind takes breath away.
Nux Vomica
Catarrhal hoarseness, with scraping in throat. Spasmodic constriction. Asthma, with fullness in stomach, morning or after eating. Cough, with sensation as if something were torn loose in chest. Shallow respiration. Oppressed breathing. Tight, dry hacking cough; at times with bloody expectoration. Cough brings on bursting headache and bruised pain in epigastric region.
Throat: Rough, scraped feeling. Tickling after waking in morning. Sensation of roughness, tightness, and tension. Pharynx constricted. Uvula swollen. Stitches into ear.
Case of Plural viral Pneumonia by Dr Qaisar Ahmed
Patient aged 41 years, Chief complaints were fever and headache (with sensation of pressure), feeling generally dull and fatigued, mild fever of 38 degrees Celsius, feeling cold and chilly (want to be covered), burning sensation in eyes, dry cough, tickling and irritation throat from the cough, throat feels dry, restless/sleep disturbed.
It was clear from the follow up that the infection had settled in the lungs, specifically in the lower lobe of the left lung.
Diagnosis was Plural viral Pneumonia stage 2. 
Advised by Dr. Qaisar Ahmed:
1- Arsenicum Album-200 Q4h
2- Causticum-200 Q4H
3- Tuberculinum-200 Q4H
4- Moringa Oriflora- Q TDs
5- Drosera and Antimuonium Tar – 1m straight and single.
After ten days patient visited the clinic but now with smile. She reported that at day first his temperature has gone, sleeps well and the seventh day all of his symptoms were diminished, feels fresh, happy and comfortable.
Patient cured and discharged.
P. S: This article is only for doctors having good knowledge about Homeopathy and allopathy, for learning purpose(s).
For proper consultation and treatment, please visit our clinic.
None of above-mentioned medicine(s) is/are the full/complete treatment, but just hints for treatment; every patient has his/her own constitutional medicine.
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Dr. Sayyad Qaisar Ahmed (MD {Ukraine}, DHMS), Abdominal Surgeries, Oncological surgeries, Gastroenterologist, Specialist Homeopathic Medicines.
Senior research officer at Dnepropetrovsk state medical academy Ukraine.
Location: Al-Haytham clinic, Umer Farooq Chowk Risalpur Sadder (0923631023, 03119884588), K.P.K, Pakistan.
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