Today, I am thankful for all those researchers who toil to end the scourge of pneumonia.
Although it probably goes without saying, pneumonia is a devastating disease. William Osler, the great Canadian clinician and a founding father of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, once regarded pneumonia as “the captain of men of death.” Pneumonia affects nearly 450 million people globally each year (7% of the population) and results in somewhere close to 5 million deaths annually. Although we mostly think of bacteria as the etiology for most cases of pneumonia, other pathogens, such as viruses, fungi, and even parasites can cause lung inflammation and infection. Bear witness to the ongoing coronavirus infection (SARS-CoV-2) which has devastated our world.
To paint a picture as to how bad pneumonia can be, it might help to just consider all the famous people who have died of pneumonia. Did you know that pneumonia has been the cause of death of some of humankind’s most capable individuals? Stalwarts like the world’s most graceful dancer (Fred Astaire), the hardest working man in show business (James Brown), and the relentless fitness guru (Jack LaLanne) all succumbed to pneumonia. In recent years, we have also seen devastating stories about young people falling fatal prey to pneumonia in the prime of their lives, such as the Muppets creator Jim Henson (who died at age 53), the actor Bernie Mac (who died at age of 50), and Queen’s lead vocalist Freddie Mercury (who died at age 45).
Oh, Mama Mia!
Borrowing from the Queen’s lead singer, ‘I do not mean to make you cry’, but some of the saddest, if not oddest, deaths recorded in history have resulted from pneumonia. Let me give you a salient example to illustrate my point.
At the age of 68, William Henry Harrison became the ninth president of the United States in 1840. As the story goes, he gave a 100-minute inauguration address in the snow, all while not wearing proper attire (i.e., no hat or coat). He contracted pneumonia and died 1 month later on this exact day (April 4). Though many would debate whether his exposure to the cold was the cause, the paucity of antibiotics at the time contributed to his demise. Unfortunately, penicillin, the first true antibiotic, would not become available for a century later. Harrison has the infamous notoriety of having given the longest inaugural speech as a US President while at the same time serving the shortest term as a US President. He is proof that a long speech not only bores your audience to death, but it might also have a fatal effect on you.
Unfortunately, bacterial pneumonia is particularly concerning, especially for those cases occurring in the hospital setting, because resistance to our current armamentarium has significantly limited our treatment options. The collective development of novel antibacterials needs to be an iterative process, as even the new agents we develop today will eventually lose their efficacy due to the organism’s rapid adaptation. Drug resistance will eventually occur to all our antibiotics.
Today, I am thankful for all the public, academic, or corporate entities that continue to work tirelessly to identify newer antibiotic and antiviral agents that will hopefully tackle pathogens that are not covered by our current portfolio. The work these agencies do matter!
Believe me, you don’t want to live in a post-antibiotic or post-antiviral era. Pneumonia is no laughing matter, irrespective of what the boxer Rocky Graziano thinks:
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