Pneumonia - Causes

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Highlights	Risk Factors	Surgery
Introduction	Diagnosis	Prevention
Causes	Treatment	Resources
Symptoms	Medications	References
Prognosis	Antibiotic and Antiviral Drug Classes

Click the icon to see an image of coccidoidomycosis.

Workers exposed to pigeons, parrots, parakeets, and turkeys are at risk for psittacosis, a lung disease caused by the bacteria Chlamydia psittaci.
Hantavirus, a rare virus carried by rodents, causes a dangerous form of lung disease. It does not spread from person to person. Cases have occurred in New Mexico, Arizona, California, Washington, and Mexico.

Click the icon to see an image of the hantavirus.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a contagious respiratory infection. The World Health Organization (WHO) officially identified SARS as a worldwide threat in 2003, and issued an unprecedented travel advisory. It wasn't clear at the time whether SARS would become a global pandemic or settle into a less aggressive pattern. The latter seems to have happened.

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Currently, there is no known SARS transmission anywhere in the world, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The SARS outbreak is a dramatic example of how quickly world travel can spread a disease. According to reports from the CDC and WHO, more than 8,000 people became sick with SARS during the outbreak. Of that group, 774 died. The outbreak is also an example of how quickly a networked health monitoring system can respond to an emerging threat.

Causes And Risk Factors. SARS is a serious form of atypical pneumonia that causes acute respiratory distress and sometimes death. It is caused by a new member of the coronavirus family (the family that includes the virus that causes the common cold). The discovery of the SARS-related virus represents one of the fastest identifications of a new organism in history.

SARS is spread by droplet contact. When someone with SARS coughs or sneezes, infected droplets are sprayed into the air. Like other coronaviruses, the SARS virus may live on hands, tissues, and other surfaces for up to 6 hours in these droplets, and up to 3 hours after the droplets have dried.