What is pneumonia? Pneumonia is caused by an infection in the lungs. The infection affects the air sacs in the lungs rather than the tubes that carry air to and from the lungs. Infected parts of the lung fill up with fluid, which contains white blood cells that fight the infection. What causes pneumonia? Where does it come from? Pneumonia is caused by germs (tiny organisms that can cause disease). Viruses, bacteria and fungi are types of germ that can cause pneumonia. Healthy people don’t usu...

Introduction COPD is a serious, progressive lung disease that can make it difficult to breathe and get enough oxygen into the body. It can make simple activities like walking up the stairs or running daily errands challenging. Symptoms The most common symptom of COPD is shortness of breath. While it’s common to feel short of breath after physical exertion, simple everyday activities, such as getting dressed or walking up a few steps, can cause someone with COPD to feel seriously short of brea...

Introduction Asthma is a chronic lung disease that causes wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness and coughing. It can affect adults or children. Approximately 1 in 12 adults and 1 in 11 children have asthma. Air enters your body through your nose and mouth. When you breathe air in, it moves down to your lungs through a breathing tube called the trachea (wind pipe) and many branching tubes called airways. In most healthy people, these airways are wide open, so air can flow unobstructed. In pe...