Getting To Know Bilateral Pneumonia, A Disease Consumed By Pope Francis

Pope Francis (Instagram/vavaticanews)

JAKARTA - The Vatican reports that Pope Francis has pneumonia in both lungs, or bilateral pneumonia. Pope Francis' condition is said to be still "complex" and undergoing intensive care.

The follow-up CT crackdown on the Holy Father this afternoon, which was prescribed by the Vatican medical team and staff menis of the Polyclinic Foundation A.Gemelli, revealed the onset of bilateral pneumonia that requires additional pharmacological therapy. ," the Vatican statement quoted from APNews, on Wednesday, February 19, 2025.

Bilateral pneumonia is a condition when a person is infected with pneumonia in both lungs. Pneumonia is an infection that causes inflammation in the air bag of the lungs, which can cause it to fill with liquid.

This pneumonia can range from mild to life-threatening. This condition will usually be more serious for certain groups, ranging from babies and people over the age of 65, people with congenital diseases such as the heart, as well as people with old immunity.

In Pope Francis, this condition could be more severe considering that he is now 88 years old. It is known, the immunity of a person with an advanced age is not as strong as a young adult.

"Although we can treat pneumonia with antibiotics, pneumonia is also one of the main causes of death," said Dr. Maor Sauler, who specializes in lung treatment and adult critical care at the Yale University's School of Medicine.

"When you are 88 years old, the age of the Pope, suddenly you have a risk factor that makes the situation more difficult than just normal pneumonia," he added.

Meanwhile, quoted from Medical News Daily, bilateral pneumonia is caused by several things. Starting from viruses, bacteria, or fungi that infect both lungs.

The severity of bilateral pneumonia is highly dependent on how many parts of the lungs are infected. The more infected parts, the more severe the symptoms and the more serious the patient's condition is.

Symptoms of bilateral pneumonia are more or less the same as pneumonia on one side of the lungs, such as fever, cough, chest pain, difficulty breathing, short and fast breathing. However, in bilateral pneumonia the chest pain felt occurred on both sides, not just one.

Bilateral pneumonia treatment is actually the same as general pneumonia treatment, but is adjusted to the causes and how serious the patient's condition is. Some of the treatments are the administration of antibiotics, antivirals, oxygen therapy, to the suction of fluids in the lungs.