CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- With kids ages 5, 3, 1 and a baby on the way, Kimberly Thompson has more than her fair share of swine flu worries. Thompson got her children vaccinated and herself, but her doctor warned her of a swine flu complication to be wary of -- pneumonia.
"My doctor talked to me about it and said it mainly happens in babies," said Thompson.
Piedmont's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Richard Patterson, said, "Around 40 percent of the people infected with H1N1, or swine flu, show evidence of pneumonia when admitted to the hospital."
Patterson was not surprised to find out many doctors' offices are seeing a spike in pneumonia cases this year.
"It's different from the ordinary flu that we see in that it can affect the upper respiratory tract, which starts at the nose and mouth and goes down to the vocal chords, but it can also affect the lungs," said Patterson.
That, he points out, is the key sign to alert swine flu sufferers that pneumonia is now the bigger problem.
"If you're having any difficulty breathing, or pain breathing, you really need to go to the emergency department," he said. "Certainly fever becomes much more common with people who develop pneumonia."
Thompson says her doctor told her, "Your chest just closes up, like a weight setting on your chest."
And doctors warn that pneumonia can be contagious for up to 10 days, but there is a vaccine.
"Pneumococcal vaccine is effective for many years, sometimes up to 10," said Patterson.
Doctors say anyone who has had pneumonia in the past may be more likely to get it again. Also, there are two types of pneumonia -- viral pneumonia, which can be a complication to the swine flu, and bacterial pneumonia, which can prey on anyone with a weakened immune system, such as anyone recovering from the swine flu.
