Wellness Wednesday: Understanding pneumonia and sepsis

Añadido: 2026-06-01

[00:00:06]The racing world was shocked by the news of NASCAR driver Kyle Bush's death last week. Bush was a twotime champion who died at only 41 years old. Bush's family later announced he died from complications connected to pneumonia and sepsis. But how can a simple case of pneumonia lead to death? What are the two illnesses and how can they impact your body? We learn more this Wellness Wednesday.

[00:00:30]>> It can be a viral infection, can be a fungal infection, it can be a bacterial infection. So, um, when it comes down to, uh, pneumonia, it's simple, uh, infection of the lung.

[00:00:41]>> Dr. Sake Shaker with Huntsville Hospital Center spoke with Fox 54 about pneumonia and how it's different from a common cold.

[00:00:49]>> If you start off as a simple cough, it goes away, then not not as much as a concern. But if it starts off as a cough, then it progresses to flem, then you have fevers and chills and chest pain. So any of these alarming things, you need to definitely call your physician or seek some help.

[00:01:04]>> So how can you get pneumonia? Dr. Juan Khix with the University of Alabama and Birmingham explained how the infection can get into your lungs.

[00:01:11]>> Pneumonia can be caused by various bacteria or viruses. Uh typically those viruses and bacteria uh will first survive in your upper airways and then uh incidentally they may get down into your lungs and if they grow to a high enough level causing your body to react and to their presence that's when inflammation starts and you get the symptoms of pneumonia. You could get it from others from uh communicable diseases such as the flu and certain bacterial infections or you could get it from the environment um that can also cause a lot of respiratory problems.

[00:01:47]>> That infection can then turn into sepsis causing even more damage to your body.

[00:01:52]>> What happens is basically our defense systems kind of get out of control in a never-ending loop that eventually leads to our own bodies damaging itself while it's trying to fight off this infection.

[00:02:04]>> Dr. Shaker explains some vaccines can help you in case you get pneumonia.

[00:02:09]>> We do certainly have a few vaccines for certain bacteria. Um it can range from our yearly flu shots or pneumonia vaccine covers one particular bacteria which is the most common kind u in certain population especially age more than 65 or have underlying lung problems.

[00:02:27]And to check out the full interviews from the experts, go to Fox, the Fox 54 app, download on your TV, watch for