Infectious Lung Diseases

Learn about respiratory diseases, how they spread, treatment and prevention.

Most infectious respiratory diseases are spread from person to person, which means that if one person in a school, workplace, home or community gets an infectious disease, they can spread it to others. The spread may occur through the air or from direct or indirect contact with an infected individual. Each year, infectious respiratory diseases cause hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths. There are tools to help protect against serious illness. 

Protecting Yourself This Respiratory Virus Season

COVID-19, Flu and RSV immunizations are available to help provide protection this fall and winter.
Read blog

Resources from the CDC

Respiratory viruses commonly cause illness such as flu, COVID-19, and RSV, especially in the fall and winter. Learn about how to reduce your risk of getting sick from these viruses, and if they are spreading in your community.
View resources

Understanding Respiratory Viruses

Infectious respiratory diseases such as influenza or COVID-19 spread from person to person. Learn how your body fights back against these pathogens and some of the common side effects that you may experience as your immune system attacks.

Common Infectious Respiratory Diseases

Preventing Infectious Respiratory Diseases

Talk to your healthcare provider to see if you and your family members are up to date on your vaccinations. Vaccines help prevent you from getting very sick, ending up in the hospital and death. It’s always better to prevent a disease rather than treat it after it occurs.

Hand-washing with soap and water is always preferred, but hand sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol works in a pinch.

When you cover your cough or sneeze cover your mouth and nose with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the garbage. If you don’t have tissue, sneeze or cough into your upper sleeve or elbow – but not your hands. Afterward, washing your hands.

Staying home, and away from other members of the household as much as possible, will help stop the infection from spreading to others. You can go back to your normal activities when your symptoms are improving, and you have not had a fever for at least a full day (without medication).

Prioritize cleaning for health, not appearance. Disinfecting doorknobs and other high touch surfaces, replacing used hand towels and keeping physical distance from sick individuals will help stop the spread of disease.

Virus particles have an easier time building up inside, especially when you host a gathering at your home. Ventilate your home by getting fresh air into your home by opening door and windows and/or using exhaust fans, filtering the air that is that is there and improving air flow.

In some instances, such as the if you were recently sick and are going back to normal activities, additional preventive measures are recommended. These include wearing face masks, physical distancing and taking steps to clean the indoor air. You can also take these additional prevention steps to further protect yourself and others when respiratory viruses are causing a lot of illness in your community or you or people you live with have risk factors that put them at increased risk for severe illness from infectious respiratory diseases. 

Stay Informed With Current Respiratory Virus Activity in Your Area

The CDC summarizes weekly respiratory illness activity for flu, RSV and COVID-19 by state and county and provides way to protect yourself and others.
View summary

Treating Infectious Respiratory Diseases

While each disease has slightly different symptoms, diagnostic tests, and treatment options, these overarching concepts provide a broad overlay for treatment.

Contact Your Healthcare Provider

  • Testing. Many infectious respiratory diseases have similar symptoms such as runny nose, fatigue, and a cough, but may require different treatments. Many testing locations offer testing for multiple infectious respiratory diseases, most commonly COVID-19 and influenza. Talk to your healthcare provider about testing if you have symptoms.
  • Monitoring Symptoms. If the person who is sick is young, an older adult or lives with a chronic disease, their primary healthcare provider will want to monitor their recovery. You should also call your healthcare provider whenever there is a new or persisting symptom that worries you. You can determine with your healthcare provider when they would like to be contacted with changes in your illness and which symptoms require you to call right away or seek urgent care.
  • Treatment Options:
    • Supportive Care. This means treating the symptoms while the disease runs its course. An example is to recommend bed rest when feeling tired. Other suggestions include staying hydrated, monitoring symptom and temperature changes, taking recommended over-the-counter medications and reporting new or lingering.
    • Antiviral Medications. For diseases such as influenza and COVID-19, antiviral medication may be recommended by your healthcare provider. Antivirals have been shown to reduce symptoms if started within a day or two of getting sick so it is important to speak to your healthcare provider right away if you are at high-risk for more severe illness, especially those who might require hospitalization.

Am I at High-Risk?

Depending on the disease, you may be at greater risk for complications if you are an infant, child, older adult, or have a chronic medical condition such as COPD, asthma, pulmonary fibrosis or lung cancer. 

Smoking tobacco also raises your risk of getting colds and lung infections like flu or pneumonia and having more severe symptoms.

Antivirals Treat Respiratory Illness

Antiviral treatment can boost your immune system if taken promptly at the onset of symptoms of some infectious respiratory diseases. Learn more about when to contact your healthcare provider how this treatment can help you feel better faster.

More Infectious Respiratory Disease Resources

Freedom From Smoking Clinic - Richmond, VA
Richmond, VA | Jan 06, 2025
Freedom From Smoking Clinic - Richmond, VA
Richmond, VA | Mar 10, 2025