Health history can help determine your risk

The death of ESPN college football reporter Edward Aschoff has many wondering how it’s possible for a seemingly healthy 34-year-old man to lose his month-long battle to pneumonia.

Aschoff first tweeted about his condition on Dec. 5 asking his followers, “Anyone ever had multifocal (bilateral) pneumonia in their early 30s as some who never gets sick and has a very good immune system?”

He then replied to another tweet the same day, detailing the symptoms he had been dealing with for weeks: “So I had a virus for two weeks. Fever and cough and the doctors think it turns into this multifocal pneumonia recently. I’m on day 4 of antibiotics. Days are getting better but nights are basically fever and coughing and sweating.”

The sports reporter died Tuesday, his 34th birthday.

Dr. Marc Sala, assistant professor of medicine in pulmonary critical care at Northwestern University, says death from multifocal pneumonia isn’t common.

“However, it’s not unheard of,” he says.

What is multifocal pneumonia?

Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs’ air sacs, or tissue. “Multifocal” pneumonia means that the infection is not just affecting one part of the lung but multiple sections.

“Bilateral” means that the infection is present in both lungs.

Is pneumonia contagious?

Pneumonia is contagious. But Sala says not much is known in the medical community about how people get pneumonia.

“What makes one person develop pneumonia versus another is still a developing science because it has a lot to do with the individual person,” he says.

Certain characteristics such as genetic factors, a patient’s immune system, medical history and age can determine whether a person is infected.

Can a cold turn into pneumonia?

The common cold is one of the most well-known and established risk factors of developing pneumonia, Sala says.

“Other viruses (such as the flu) can predispose you to a compromised immune system of the lungs,” he says.

Although pneumonia isn’t predictable, Sala says, the best way to mitigate other viruses that could develop into pneumonia is to practice good hand hygiene, avoid people who may be sick and get the flu shot every year.

How to tell if you have pneumonia

According to the Mayo Clinic, pneumonia symptoms can vary from mild to severe depending on the cause of infection, age and the patient’s overall health.

Milder symptoms look similar to a cold or flu and can include chest pain when breathing or coughing, fatigue, fever accompanied by sweating and shaking chills, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea and shortness of breath.

Sala says that the only way to confirm a diagnosis of pneumonia is to visit a doctor to get an x-ray and physical exam.

“If symptoms aren’t improving with just conservative measures at home ... in the time course of several days and you’re getting worse that should prompt an evaluation.”