What is the difference between typical and atypical pneumonia?

Answer 1

Tuberculosis (commonly shortened to TB) is an infection caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis.Atypical mycobacteria are other mycobacterial species that MAY cause disease but do NOT cause Tuberculosis. Unlike tuberculosis, atypical infections are NOT contagious. Atypical mycobacteria are very different from and yet are called types of tuberculosis. Also they are not passed from person to person.
For example a form of atypical tuberculosis (mycobacteria chelonei) was only discovered in the late 1950s'.
On a certain pacific island the hands of certain islanders were infected with sores. The cause was actually the turtles they were handling! I think "Chelonei", is actually the species of turtle.

Answer 2

Atypical mycobacteria are other mycobacterial species that MAY cause disease but do NOT cause Tuberculosis. Unlike tuberculosis, atypical infections are NOT contagious. Atypical mycobacteria are a group of bacteria that are widely distributed in nature. They can be found in water, soil, animals and man, usually without evidence of disease. These are not the same organisms that cause tuberculosis. Atypical mycobacteria are very different from and yet are called types of tuberculosis. Also they are not passed from person to person.
For example a form of atypical tuberculosis (mycobacteria chelonei) was only discovered in the late 1950s'.
On a certain pacific island the hands of certain islanders were infected with sores. The cause was actually the turtles they were handling! I think "Chelonei", is actually the species of turtle.

Answer 3

Typical pneumonias are the ones that present acutely (quicker onset ) with sicker more toxic people( generally sicker people ). They have reported chest pain. They bringing up foul purulent sputum, and it is caused by streptococcus pneumonia, and Haemophilia's influenza, and and similar diseases. Atypical patients are often not quite as ill. Maybe they do not have as high a fever and more systemic symptoms, GI ( intestinal problems) kind of stuff, like mycoplasma, chlamydia, viral legionella. Both types may produce sputum, lab cultures of sputum and x-rays are one method used to determine what type of pneumonia is present and what treatment may be effective.