With the winter months quickly approaching and the atmosphere varying from state to state, pneumonia is an issue that plagues the minds of many different people. A lot of individuals have no idea what it is, how they get it, or how they can fix it.

Even more don’t know just how easy it is to succumb to pneumonia-associated mortality. If you get down the nitty-gritty, even fewer people have knowledge that there are several key factors within their environment that can cause them to fall ill to the lung-wrenching ailment. Here are a few things that contribute to your higher risk of pneumonia within your environment.

Bacteria

When bacteria contaminates the lungs by infiltrating the sinus cavities and finding its way down the esophagus and into the bronchioles, they can cause massive amounts of swelling and discomfort. Because the body is responding to a foreign invader, it creates a substance we know as puss to try and force the bacteria out of the afflicted area. However, when this puss is inside of the bronchioles, it can cause a major problem with hardening. That hardening of the bronchioles is known as pneumonia and there’s a number of bacterium that can get inside of the lungs and cause a serious complication like strep.

You may be wondering how you could get strep. If you have a child that’s of school-going age, or you work in a heavily populated environment, the chances of you contracting strep is very easy. It’s a bacterial infection that can be spread through saliva, or by that person simply coughing and/or sneezing on you. Stay away from infected people to minimize your chance of getting it.

Allergies

Yes, your sneezing, coughing, sniffling, runny nose, and redness are all due to your allergies. Your body is simply looking for a way to expel randomly roaming agents that are far from dangerous. However, your body’s way of trying to expel them can cause you more trouble than it’s worth.

By simply inhaling dust particles, pollen or other things that cause problems for many allergy sufferers, you can trigger your body’s response system, resulting in the swelling of the tiny nodes within your lungs. By the swelling of these entities, your body can cause you to have allergic pneumonia. This type of pneumonia comes in three different categories: acute, subacute, and chronic.

If you’re having an acute attack, chances are you’re too close to the aggravating agent. If you’re having an acute attack, you’ll start to feel like you are getting the flu in the worst type of way. The best way to help stop this type of attack is to move away from the allergen.

Perhaps you’re suffering from a subacute attack; chances are you’re going to feel like you have the flu and then some. You’ll start coughing up mucus and other wonderful juices from deep within your lung cavity. This is an issue that needs to be addressed by your doctor to keep yourself from sliding into the chronic category.

If you’re chronic, you’ll find yourself with myriad other symptoms including weight loss. If this stage has been reached, you need to completely remove yourself from the allergens and talk to your doctor on a regular basis to monitor your lung health.

The best way to avoid this is to minimize your exposure to any allergens that you might see or think of. You can also purchase an antihistamine to keep your body from attacking itself over something presumably harmless.

Smog

Most of us live in big urban areas, so we’re no strangers to the endless black mass of cloudy pollution called “smog.” However, this cloud can invade your home and infect you and your loved ones. If you have an issue with the quality of air in your home, you should immediately assess the easiest thing to change: your air filter. Breathing in contaminants from the outside can cause you to have a serious upper respiratory reaction.

If these contaminants have somehow managed to find their way into your home via the air intake filter, open doors, open windows, etc. then you need to find a way to cleanse your homes air immediately. Constant exposure to smog can act as an irritant within the lungs and cause the bronchioles to inflame and the body to start the production of puss. Look into getting a new air filter or investing in an air purifier in order to keep you and your family safe from these invisible attackers.