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Country music star Shania Twain contracted COVID-19 pneumonia at her home in Lake Geneva, Switzerland, at the height of the pandemic – and the situation became serious enough that she needed transport air to a hospital.
“It was getting progressively worse. My vital signs were getting worse, … and in the end I had to be airlifted,” Twain, 57, told the British tabloid. The mirror. “It was like science fiction, I felt like I was going to another planet or something,” she says. “It all sort of happened in slow motion.”
Her second husband, Frédéric “Fred” Thiébaud, had to call the airlift, Twain said. “My husband was freaking out, to be honest,” she said. “He was really freaking out because he was the one who had to put it all together. He was spending hours and hours every day on the phone, trying to coordinate an air evacuation, trying to line up a bed, because there wasn’t one , checking my vital signs It was just a real nightmare for him.
Twain eventually ended up in a hospital and was put in solitary confinement and treated with plasma therapy, she said. “It took several days to start developing antibodies, so it was a very dangerous and very scary time,” she said. “I made it, and I’m so grateful.”
Experience entered Twain’s music in a song, Inhale/exhale air. “It’s a song of gratitude and appreciation,” she said. “I was inspired that I still had air in my lungs.”
COVID-19 pneumonia is a serious illness with symptoms similar to but different from other types of pneumonia. Here’s what to look for.
“One of the common complications of COVID 19 infection is pneumonia,” says Dr. Susan Wilcox, chief of the division of intensive care in the department of emergency medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “When we talk about pneumonia, we mean infection of the lungs, particularly infection of the small airways and the air sacs or alveoli.”
COVID-19 pneumonia is caused when a person’s immune system reacts to the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the lungs, causing the air cells to swell and leak fluid, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
COVID-19 pneumonia is just one type of lung disease, which can also be caused by bacterial, fungal or viral infection or as a result of illnesses such as influenza.
“The World Health Organization estimates that between 250,000 and 5 million people die each year from pneumonia due to influenza,” said Dr. Chen Yiming, family doctor in Singapore. “In fact, pneumonia accounts for about 15% of all deaths of children under the age of 5.”
Risk factors for pneumonia include being under age 5 or over age 65; chronic lung conditions such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; heart disease; or a weakened immune system, such as in HIV-positive patients or people undergoing chemotherapy or post-organ transplant, Yiming says.
Symptoms of COVID pneumonia can resemble those of an initial COVID-19 infection, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
These include shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, confusion, extreme tiredness or tiredness, cough, fever, chest pain or tightness, or bluish lips, skin, or nails, depending on the clinic.
“Pneumonia symptoms can vary from individual to individual,” says Yiming. “They include cough, production of phlegm, shortness of breath, fever with chills, chest pain. In severe cases or in elderly patients, even confusion and drowsiness.”
Less common symptoms include sore throat, headache, aches and pains, diarrhea, rash or discoloration of fingers or toes, or red or irritated eyes, according to the World Health Organization.
You can’t tell the difference between COVID-19, the flu, and other respiratory illnesses by symptoms alone Centers for Control and Prevention of Disasters.
Some PCR tests can differentiate between influenza and COVID-19 at the same time.
Both COVID-19 and the flu take a few days from infection to symptoms. It is also possible to have no symptoms if you are infected with either virus.
But someone with COVID-19 may take longer to show symptoms than someone with the flu. COVID-19 also spreads more easily than the flu, according to the CDC. COVID-19 can also cause more serious illnesses than the flu.
Guang-Hong Chenprofessor of medical physics and radiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is developing an algorithm to differentiate between COVID-19-related pneumonia and other pneumonias, he says.
“And we think that will help our chest radiology experts, at least to provide them with a second opinion to better…differentiate COVID-related pneumonia from the other type of pneumonia,” he says.
To prevent COVID-19 pneumonia, stay up to date on your vaccinations. If you are entitled to additional boosters, you should also get them as soon as possible.
If you think you have COVID-19, get tested at your doctor’s office or pharmacy and follow your doctor’s instructions.
“COVID-19 pneumonia in and of itself does not require medical attention; however, patients with COVID-19 pneumonia may develop respiratory failure and may need to be hospitalized,” says Wilcox.
“If you start having severe shortness of breath – which means you have trouble moving around your house, going to the bathroom, taking care of yourself – that’s a reason to go to the hospital and to be evaluated for COVID-19 pneumonia,” she adds.
The biggest indicator that a COVID-19 infection has worsened is difficulty breathing, according to the Cleveland Clinic. “If you are short of breath and it gets worse, or if you feel like you can’t breathe, go to the nearest emergency room,” the clinic says.
“It’s important to go to the emergency room if you have symptoms of COVID pneumonia, as it can get worse quickly,” the clinic adds. Ask Shania Twain.
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