Stating that pneumonia is a disease that is both treatable and causes complications leading to death if left untreated, Chest Diseases Specialist Prof. Dr. Şevket Özkaya said, “Everyone is at risk for pneumonia. We started to see rapidly increasing pneumonia epidemics in the society after every flu and viral diseases.”
Chest Diseases Specialist Prof. Dr. Şevket Özkaya from VM Medical Park Samsun Hospital gave information on the occasion of November 12 Pneumonia Day. Prof. Dr. Özkaya said, “We clean the bacteria and microorganisms that enter our body through respiration with our body's immunity without making us sick. But when our immune system weakens, bacteria and microorganisms make us sick. Especially the post-flu period is the weakest period for pneumonia.”
“Attention to the increasing cases of pneumonia after the flu”
Stating that patients with prolonged flu and cough may be overlooked in the lung graphs of patients with prolonged flu and cough, but in more detailed examinations, they see frosted glass areas in their lungs, which they witnessed in the early days of Covid-19, Prof. Dr. Özkaya said, “Although this picture supports viral pneumonia, we see pneumonia areas in detailed films in many of our patients. After every influenza and viral diseases, we started to see rapidly increasing pneumonia outbreaks in the society.”
“Vaccination is important to protect against the risk of pneumonia”
Stating that while the mortality rate is 1-5 percent in outpatients with pneumonia, this rate reaches 12 percent in hospitalized cases and 40 percent in patients requiring intensive care support, Prof. Dr. Özkaya said, “Especially those with chronic diseases, smokers and everyone over the age of 65 should get the pneumonia vaccine to avoid being affected by the pneumonia epidemic this winter. Pneumonia vaccine is routinely administered in children and its protective effectiveness against pneumonia has been proven. We recommend that our citizens pay attention to collective activities, wear masks and pay attention to their personal hygiene.”
