I live in Belgium, Europe

I know pneumonia is common, but it's not like I often meet people who have/had it. I meet a lot of people in my store and sometimes a year goes by before I hear about it again.

But in the last 3 months, 4 people in my direct environment had pneumonia and my customers don't seem to talk about anything else. Everyone knows someone who has it, hospitalized or not.
My colleagues daughter had it last week and she couldn't even be committed to a hospital because they where full, most pneumonia cases: children and elderly persons (our news did a short story on this last week) and it's country-wide, not local

My husband suddenly developed a high fever last night that we couldn't bring down (still can't) and his lungs started to hurt, even when he didn't cough. He went to the doctor this morning and he said it was pneumonia and gave him antibiotics.
24 hours went by and now my lungs are starting to hurt as well, pretty bad actually and I didn't even have a cough or a cold or the flu in the last 6 months. Neither did my husband. Since an hour ago my own daughter started to feel sick as well. It's back to the doc for us in the morning.
two days ago we where all perfectly fine, not one cough or sneeze!

We really do see an increase in pneumonia cases around here which makes no sense to me.

Now I didn't have a medical education and everything I think I know I've learned from the Internet, so what I'm about to write next might as well be very wrong so pls correct me:

If my doc prescribes antibiotics, he must suspect a bacterial infection, because antibiotics don't kill viruses.
Most of the bacteria that cause pneumonia are 'home' in our upper lungs and they only cause an infection after or together with a bad flu or cold.
Pneumonia itself is not contagious.

so how can there be such a big increase in cases all of a sudden?

I'm making this thread to see if the same thing is going on in other places? And if maybe someone with a medical background can shed a light on this one

I was under the impression that Pneumonia is a condition one may experience due to a number of different causes not a disease one catches?

Same thing here in GA! I have heard of more cases of pneumonia in the past month than I have in the rest of my life put together. Many have been perfectly healthy teenage boys who just suddenly had pneumonia. It's bizarre.

What's up?

Originally posted by Josephus
I was under the impression that Pneumonia is a condition one may experience due to a number of different causes not a disease one catches?

yup, that's what I thought!
but both the doctors and hospitals are calling this thing 'pneumonia'.

I'm trying to not think the worst, even though I'm starting to feel worse by the hour.... but I am really doubting that this is what they say it is.

So odd you mention this!! I just got out of the hospital for being sick with it. I never get this. I didnt even know what it was thought it was my heart.

My neighbor across the street has it, and my friend who lives a couple streets down has it. Its hard to shake off.
We have all been sick a while now. I think the weather here has something to do with it. So windy and so much dust. I am coughing up brown, which is the dust. It think these weather patterns are affecting people in this way and making us more susceptible.

They scheduled me for a pneumonia and flue shot in the hospital without asking me. Thank goodness I was awake to turn it down, as I was paralyzed from a flu shot in the past .

More cases of it though!! Also in my family who does not live with me there have been two cases last month.

Mm,that's funny I'm in Scotland and just today,since later this afternoon my chest has become sore and very raw along with my whole throat when I cough.

My chest is definetly congested.My chest not my throat.I'd put it down to a chest infection rather than pneumonia.No fever as such.

It's probably the weather which has ranged between -10 and 3 over the last week.Around -3 the last couple of days but with a very damp dense mist hanging clinging to everything the last few days.

All the same it's been 6 or 7 years since I've had anything like it.

My sister was taken to the hospital recently because of a seizure of some sort. They did all kinds of tests on her and she found out that she has diabetes that she was unaware of and also that she had something called "walking pneumonia," whatever that is. She had no symptoms like the fever, coughing, trouble breathing, chest pain, etc.

I find it interesting that they found that when she apparently had no symptoms. I think they found it with x-ray.

Okay, I just looked it up. It means pneumonia with little or no symptoms because it is not very severe. Hence, you can walk around without knowing you have it. They say it doesn't require antibiotics. Also, it comes on very gradually and not very strong.

thanks for the replies

3rd day with fever today.
To me this feels more like a common flu and not pneumonia. I'm not taking the antibiotics at this point.
Other years I manage to help myself with my own herbal remedies and they seem to be working with the coughing now as well.

My husband is doing better by now, he is taking antibiotics.... and my daughter didn't get sick at all.