Is walking pneumonia contagious?

Explaining Pneumonia

Pneumonia, as most of us already know is a bacterial, viral or other kind infection of one's lungs, where parts of it swell and fill with harmful fluids. This condition may vary in symptoms and severity. Therefore, there are cases where sufferers of pneumonia are capable of doing most of their regular actions normally. This kind of pneumonia is called walking pneumonia. This variant of pneumonia is caused by a bacteria called mycoplasma. It is a parasite bacteria since it needs to connect to a host cell in order to live. Logically, this bacteria cannot possibly exist on its own since it does not have certain survival mechanisms developed and seeks these within a host.

As far as signs of this pneumonia are concerned, there are several of them considered common. Fist of all, there is a sore throat, often accompanied with headaches and chills. Additionally, a person with walking pneumonia may experience chest pain, rashes and ear pain. Finally, increased respiration and the appearance of lumps in the neck may be possible as well.

Walking Pneumonia: Contagious or Not?

Before discussing anything else, you should know that this bacteria, and walking pneumonia in general, is quite contagious and many easily be transmitted through air one exhales or coughs out since this bacteria can be found in the water droplets one expels through his or her respiratory system. So, be careful and distance yourself from people with walking pneumonia, keeping your organism safe. Those who are infected should avoid contacts with other people, cover their mouth and nose when they sneeze or cough and get rid of the phlegm expelled from their lungs by spitting it out somewhere where they can get rid of it safely.

Possible Treatment

The first line of defense, taking into consideration that this condition is caused by a bacteria, is to make your sore throat settle down by drinking a lot of warm water, optionally with salt for disinfection. Of course, you should seek medical advice and get prescribed with specific antibiotics made for these purposes, since these are the best possible cure for walkingpneumonia.

Finally, in order to know how and when to react, with walking pneumonia you will have continuous flu symptoms for more than a month. Thus, in order to keep yourself and people around you safe from this bacterial infection of lungs, make sure that you seek medical attention as soon as you notice these prolonged symptoms.