“How dangerous is pneumonia to healthy adults?”

Dangerous at any age.

Pneumonia can be caused by different organisms and can range from from mild “walking pneumonia” to serious to even fatal.Healthy people have low risk of getting it but bacterial pneumonias can become serious and fatal if not treated in time.

The answer to your question is that it depends. Many younger adults get pneumonia and are able to be successfully treated with oral antibiotics and do fine. The vast majority, in fact. However, sometimes if the pneumonia is complicated or is due to certain types of organisms (particularly Group A strep), the prognosis can be more guarded. Rarely, a healthy younger adult can succumb to a particularly severe pneumonia. So, the question is kind of hard to answer. I guess I’d say that most of the time the disease, though it can make you feel really terrible, is not particularly dangerous if diagnosed and treated appropriately. But dangerous forms of the disease do exist.

Randall Fisher, M.D.