My mum has pneumonia and may have had flu, despite being vaccinated

[PrettyCandles]

How much protection do the flu and pneumonia jabs give you?

Mum, well, she's a bit of a drama queen, so I translated her illness last weekend as a very bad cold. The sort that knocks you back with fever and misery. It only lasted 2-3 days, and then she sounded much better and ordinarily cold-y, IYSWIM.

And today she suddenly developed a temp again, was ill enough to get a visit from the GP, who says she probably had flu and now has pneumonia.

I'm slightly bricking it, because I thought my parents were safe!

It's entirely possible to develop pneumonia from a cold, particularly if you're elderly. My father did in 2009 and it nearly killed him.

There are some very bad viruses around right now that are not flu.

The only way to know for sure if it's flu is bloods/swab test.

I believe the flu jab (not sure about pneumonia) is only 75% effective, ie 1 in 4 people who have it are still vunerable to getting flu.

I had the jab this year, but still got swine flu (swabs taken), then chest infection, then a week in hospital with pneumonia.

I had symptoms of a bad cold for a couple of days then felt better, then suddenly went downhill again within a couple of hours.

I'm slightly concerned (slightly more concerned!) now, because she says the GP did not take swabs.

How can he know it's bacterial pneumonia, and not viral?

Now you can't know that unless you go beyond well a swab. That's why they usually just start treating for bacterial.

A swab/bloods is how you test for flu, though. Otherwise you can't know if it's flu or some other virus.