Is pleurisy contagious?

Pleurisy refers to chest pain caused by inflammation of the pleura. When pleurisy occurs, patients often experience a tingling sensation when breathing, which lasts for a long time and takes several minutes or even dozens of minutes to gradually recover. Many people do not understand the pathogenesis of pleurisy, and many people even think that pleurisy is contagious. So, is pleurisy contagious?

Chest pain is the most common symptom of pleurisy. It often occurs suddenly and varies greatly in severity, ranging from vague discomfort to severe tingling, or it may only occur when the patient takes a deep breath or coughs, or it may persist and be aggravated by deep breathing or coughing. Chest pain is caused by inflammation of the parietal pleura and occurs in the chest wall opposite the site of inflammation.

1. Pleurisy is an exudative inflammation caused by tuberculosis bacteria directly invading the pleura from the primary lesion near the pleura or spreading to the pleura through the lymphatic vessels and blood. If it is simple pleurisy, it is generally not contagious. Many people mistakenly equate pleurisy with infectious diseases, not knowing that not all tuberculosis is contagious. It is generally believed that only patients with pleurisy who have bacteria in their sputum when microscopic smears are examined are contagious.

2. Pleurisy is contagious, and the chance of infection varies depending on the disease. Because bacteria are mainly spread and transmitted through the respiratory tract. When a pleuritic patient who is excreting bacteria coughs, sneezes, or talks loudly, a large amount of tiny sputum droplets containing bacteria are released into the air and then inhaled by healthy people.

3. These sputums contain bacteria and thus become infected. Whether a healthy person develops pleurisy after being infected by bacteria depends on the combined effect of two factors, namely the virulence of the infected bacteria and the level of body resistance. When the bacteria are highly virulent and the body's resistance is low, pleurisy is likely to occur, with an occurrence rate of about 10%.