Pneumonia

Pneumonia is a leading cause of death and hospitalization, costing health care systems billions of dollars and an estimated 600,000 adult deaths worldwide each year. Pneumococcal disease is caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae and the term describes a group of illnesses, including invasive infections, such as bacteremia/sepsis and meningitis, as well as pneumonia and upper respiratory tract infections. Although all age groups may be affected, the highest rate of pneumococcal disease occurs in young children and older adults. In addition, persons suffering from a wide range of chronic conditions (eg, diabetes, cardiovascular disease) and immune deficiencies are at increased risk.

Viral vs Bacterial Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an infection of one or both lungs which affects alveoli. This article looks at the differences between bacterial and viral pneumonia.

Pneumonia Classification

Is Walking Pneumonia Contagious?

Walking Pneumonia: When to See a Doctor?

Pneumonia Epidemiology

Types of Atypical Pneumonia

Risk Factors and Walking Pneumonia Prevention

Pneumonia Cause

Pneumonia History

Walking Pneumonia versus Pneumonia

Is Sense of Smell Linked to Pneumonia?

Pneumonia Diagnosis

See more featured articles »

Pneumonia in Children

Pneumonia Symptoms & Risk Factors

How is Walking Pneumonia Treated?

Walking Pneumonia Versus Bronchitis

Walking Pneumonia Versus Common Cold

Who Gets Walking Pneumonia?

Walking Pneumonia

Pneumonia Treatment

Latest Pneumonia News and Research

Latest hospital rankings place NYU Langone Health at the very top

NYU Langone Health continues to have the most No. 1-ranked specialties and the most top-10 ranked specialties among medical centers in the United States, according to the rankings released today by U.S. News & World Report.

4 Aug 2026

Engineered extracellular vesicles counter deadly cytokine storms in mice

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted some severe consequences of unchecked respiratory disease, including cytokine storm.

31 Jul 2026

Oral antibiotics safely shorten hospital stays for children with pneumonia

Children hospitalized with severe pneumonia can safely switch from injectable to oral antibiotics once they begin to recover, allowing many to return home sooner and complete treatment outside hospital.

23 Jul 2026

New bacterial control strategy helps revive failing last-line antibiotics

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the world's most alarming public health challenges, because the multidrug-resistant (MDR) gram-negative bacteria increasingly render even last-line antibiotics ineffective, leading to substantially higher mortality rates.

23 Jul 2026

Study reveals bacterial strategy behind antibiotic tolerance and persistence

Antibiotics are a medical marvel, but many microbes are gaining the ability to resist and tolerate these therapeutics.

22 Jul 2026

Rising antimicrobial resistance in children threatens life-saving antibiotic effectiveness

Antimicrobial resistance in children is rising globally and will worsen over the next decade, threatening the effectiveness of life‑saving antibiotics, according to a world-first monitoring platform.

20 Jul 2026

Cell death crosstalk network drives acute respiratory distress syndrome

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) remains one of the deadliest complications of severe infections, sepsis, trauma, and viral pneumonia, yet decades of research have produced few targeted therapies capable of improving patient outcomes.

14 Jul 2026

GLP-1 drugs may reduce lung scarring from Long COVID in diabetic patients

GLP-1 agonists have become popular treatments for weight loss and type 2 diabetes, and newer studies suggest other health benefits as well.

9 Jul 2026

Nerve stimulation methods provide safe relief for oropharyngeal dysphagia

Dysphagia, a severe comorbidity of many neurological diseases, often lacks targeted therapies. This critical review assessed the clinical effectiveness and safety of electrical stimulation of cranial nerves for treating dysphagia, including implantable (direct nerve stimulation), minimally invasive (pharyngeal electrical stimulation, PES), and non‑invasive (transcutaneous) approaches.

30 Jun 2026

Cryo-EM microscopy uncovers structure of bacteria behind gum disease

Periodontal (gum) disease is one of the most prevalent diseases worldwide, caused by the bacterium Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis). In Japan alone, approximately 80% of adults over 30 years old are affected or considered at risk.

30 Jun 2026

Cambridge researchers discover three distinct severe pneumonia biological subtypes

Cambridge researchers have shown that severe pneumonia has three different subtypes, helping explain why some patients in intensive care units (ICUs) recover from their illness faster than others, while for other patients the disease can be life-threatening.

23 Jun 2026

Autonomous medical AI outperforms doctors in simulated EHR cases

MIRA, an autonomous AI agent tested in a sandboxed electronic health record, diagnosed 574 real emergency department cases with 88.9% accuracy and outperformed physicians in a matched 311-case comparison. The system ordered tests, generated medication plans, and made admission decisions in simulation, but the authors stress that prospective validation, governance, and physician oversight are still essential.

21 Jun 2026

NYU Langone performs the world's first HIV-positive-to-HIV-positive lung transplant

The world's first HIV-positive-to-HIV-positive lung transplant was performed at NYU Langone Health.

19 Jun 2026

Quest Diagnostics study uncovers widespread community reservoirs of deadly gut bacterium

A common bacterial strain that lives naturally in people's guts can cause a dangerous or deadly infection for some, especially when it becomes multidrug-resistant and causes chronic urinary-tract infections (UTIs) in elderly women.

18 Jun 2026

AI diagnostic errors raise hospital blame unless doctors stay deeply involved

A two-study vignette experiment found that people attributed more responsibility to hospitals and were more likely to consider filing a complaint or taking legal action when missed diagnoses involved AI rather than a physician alone. Interactive physician involvement reduced negative reactions, while autonomous or sequential AI-human collaboration did not meaningfully improve responses compared with AI-only diagnosis.

17 Jun 2026

The importance of ketones from a clinical and medical perspective

In this interview, News-Medical talks to Marcin Pacek, senior director of medical and scientific affairs in Europe for Nova Biomedical, about the importance of ketones in a medical and clinical setting.

From Nova Biomedical 15 Jun 2026

Remote monitoring does not beat usual care for sepsis patients

Remote monitoring isn't a panacea for reducing readmissions across all conditions - and for some patients, clinicians should proceed with caution, clinical trial results published today in JAMA Network Open suggest.

11 Jun 2026

GSV hospitals achieve substantially higher delirium screening in older surgical patients

There is a stark gap in how often hospitals screen older adults for postoperative delirium, with verified geriatric surgery programs screening nearly every patient while non-accredited programs screen just half, according to new findings published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

10 Jun 2026

Infections pose major but overlooked risks in people with diabetes

Infections should be considered a "health hazard" in people living with diabetes, with experts warning that current clinical guidelines fail to reflect a substantial but under-recognized burden of illness, hospitalization and death.

7 Jun 2026

Global decline in child mortality slowed down significantly since 2015

Global progress in reducing preventable deaths among newborn babies, children, and adolescents has slowed substantially since 2015, and many countries risk missing international child survival targets by 2030, find a series of papers published by The BMJ today.

4 Jun 2026