A Serious Medical Illness A Serious Medical Illness Pneumococcal disease is a serious infection caused by a bacteria called Streptococcus pneumoniae , or pneumococcus. About 40,000 people die annually of pneumococcal infections. Pneumococcal infection is also common in infants and toddlers under the age of 2 years. The most common type of pneumococcal infection is pneumonia, which is an infection of one or more lobes of the lung.
Pneumococcal meningitis is an extremely serious infection, affecting the lining of the brain.
Serious side effects such as paralysis, blindness, deafness, and death can occur as a result of this infection. The most common symptoms of pneumococcal pneumonia are sudden shaking chills, cough, and fever. Breathing may be rapid and painful with sharp chest pain. Pneumococcal pneumonia should always be suspected in a patient with a fever, cough productive of greenish, yellowish, or rusty sputum, chills, and pain in the chest with breathing. The disease is usually diagnosed by culturing pneumococcus from sputum or blood, in combination with a chest x-ray showing pneumonia.