Is double pneumonia twice as worrisome?

A mucous producing cough, shortness of breath and a fever are just some of the unpleasant symptoms of pneumonia. But if you are diagnosed with double pneumonia, can you expect the illness to take a similar course, or be twice as worse?

Double pneumonia is an infection in both of your lungs rather than just one lung like one-sided pneumonia. Either way, the contagious infection leads to over a million hospitalizations and over 40,000 deaths each year.

“Double pneumonia can be more severe than one-sided pneumonia depending on how much lung tissue is affected by the infection since it can compromise your ability to breathe due to inflammation,” explains Dr. Ann Hackfort, an internal medicine physician at Advocate Health Care. “This is also true for one-sided pneumonia. For example, multiple segments of lung tissue on one side of the lung can be more severe than double pneumonia if only small segments are affected in both lungs.”

She says you cannot diagnose double pneumonia by symptoms alone since they are similar to one-sided pneumonia. Instead, imaging is needed to identify whether you have a double-sided infection.

“One-sided and double pneumonia are typically treated the same depending on what type of infection caused the pneumonia (bacterial, viral or fungal),” Dr. Hackfort says. “Bacterial pneumonia is the most common infection type and is treated with antibiotics.”

Bacterial pneumonia can stem from cold, flu, COVID, and RSV or develop on its own.

Dr. Hackfort says you are more prone to developing double pneumonia if you:

• Are immunocompromised
• Are age 65 or older
• Are age 5 or younger
• Are a smoker
• Have an underlying lung condition

These at-risk groups may benefit from a pneumococcal vaccination, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

If you have concerns about your pneumonia risk, consult with your health care provider.

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