One out of three diabetic patients does not take proper care, and since the blood sugar usually attacks the immune system, they become more vulnerable to many diseases, including pneumonia.
When the defense mechanisms has been affected, symptoms such as high fever, chills, severe coughing, phlegm and breathing problems, may result in respiratory insufficiency, as explained by doctor Javier Moya, who added that the risk of suffering from pneumonia is 3 times higher in these patients than in healthy people.
We are not just dealing with decompensated diabetics, but with obese ones, who are also suffering from heart or kidney deseases, which could complicate their cases,
said the doctor.
The doctor thinks that to avoid complications is necessary as well to have a lifestyle change that includes exercise, eating well, taking proper control of the disease and vaccination, because two thirds of pneumonia cases are caused by pneumococcus bacteria and the vaccines available in the country could prevent up to 60% of them.