Does a history of pneumonia elevate Covid-19 risk?

Question

Hi doctor,

I have a general question that relates personally to myself in relation to Covid-19.

I am a woman of 45 years and several years ago I had a severe case of pneumonia and I was hospitalized for a few weeks (which I have completely no memory of). It took me further 12 weeks to start to feel normal again. Since then I have had at least two chest infections a year and have also in the past two years I had many UTI's and kidney infections one of which was a few weeks ago and took lots of antibiotics to help.

At the moment, I have a slight sore throat and like many do not know what and how to react to this. I have never been diagnosed with any conditions but as I said get chest infections, UTIs, and kidney infections often. Am I more at risk of catching COVID-19 and would I be put into the category of someone who has for example, COPD etc.? I am very worried and scared as I know how ill I was when I got pneumonia and also my husband has diabetes and high blood pressure, which makes me even more concerned?

I am currently on Naproxen, Co-codamol (when required due to back and neck pain resulting from a car accident) Fluoxetine (daily).

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to our portal.

We all are at risk to COVID19, but regular washing, sanitization of hands and use of masks outside the home can reduce the risk. Since you have encountered pneumonia earlier, your defense system must be boosted up. Still, I would recommend that you talk to your physician and get yourself vaccinated with:

1. Influenza (Quadrivalent) vaccine yearly.

2. Pneumococcal vaccine every sixth year.

These vaccines provide good prophylaxis against typical bacterial and viral infections.