Bacteria & the Lungs

Articles about bacterial infections of the respiratory system and airways. Topics range from historical diseases like tuberculosis to current concerns including pneumonia and whooping cough.

How Does Legionnaires Disease Spread?

Legionnaires disease spreads through contaminated water droplets in air conditioning and heating systems that people breathe in.

Tuberculosis, Past, Present and Future

How tuberculosis has killed billions throughout history and why modern medicine's early promise to eradicate it hasn't fully materialised.

What Is Psittacosis?

Psittacosis is a bacterial infection spread by infected birds to humans, causing pneumonia-like illness that can turn serious without treatment.

Which Bacteria Cause Pneumonia?

Several types of bacteria can cause pneumonia by filling your lungs with fluid and pus, making it hard to breathe.

Which Bacterium Causes Diphtheria?

Corynebacterium diphtheriae causes diphtheria, a serious bacterial infection that affects the throat and can be fatal without quick treatment.

Whooping Cough; a Childhood Infection of the Past?

Whooping cough cases dropped from 100,000 yearly to just 150 in the UK thanks to childhood vaccination programs.

Why Is Whooping Cough Becoming More Common?

Whooping cough cases are rising again despite past vaccination success, here's why the childhood illness is making a comeback.