Boston University Medical Campus
Pneumonia Biology

Art

WPA poster – Pneumonia strikes like a man-eating shark (pictured right)

Music

“Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie-Woogie Flu,” performed by Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Rivers, Professor Longhair, the Grateful Dead, Aerosmith, as well as many others

“Pneumonia,” by Kool & the Gang

“Pneumonia Blues,” by Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and others.

“It Ain’t Pneumonia, It’s the Blues,” by John Anderson

“Dust Pneumonia Blues,” by Woody Guthrie

“Twistin’ pneumonia,” by The Genies

“Pneumonia,” by Bjork

“Pneumonia,” by Fog

“Pneumonia” album by Whiskeytown

The song “I’ll never fall in love again,” written by Burt Bacharach, has the following great lines:
What do you get when you kiss a girl?
You get enough germs to catch pneumonia.
After you do, she’ll never phone ya.
I’ll never fall in love again.

Toys & Games

Lungs stuffed doll

Streptococcus pneumoniae stuffed doll

“Pandemic” video game

Sports

Pneumonia Ridge is a ski run at Turner Mountain Ski Resort in Montana.

Culture

Old Rip was a Horned Toad who according to legend survived 31 years within the cornerstone of a Texas county courthouse to become the inspiration for Michigan J. Frog, the 1955 cartoon character who performs (including the singing of “Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal…”) only for the man who found him. Unfortunately, Old Rip – the remarkable survivalist – was unable to overcome pneumonia, dying of it within a year of his rescue from the cornerstone.

Jokes

Found on the web without attribution…

Patient: Doc, are you certain pneumonia’s the diagnosis? My uncle was being treated for pneumonia but he died of meningitis.

Doctor: Don’t worry about that. If I treat you for pneumonia, then you die of pneumonia.

A patient went to see the doctor because of a terrible cold. The doctor prescribed pills, but they didn’t help. At the next visit, the doctor administered a shot, to no avail. At the third visit the doctor advised “Go home and take a warm bath. When you finish, throw open your windows and stand in the cold draft.”

The patient replied “Doc, if I do that, I might get pneumonia.”

“I know,” said the doctor, “I can do something for pneumonia.”