Patients with lobar pneumonia have a rapid onset of symptoms, mainly high fever, chills, coughing, coughing up rust-coloured sputum and chest pain. When the disease is widespread, the patient may experience dyspnoea, respiratory distress and cyanosis. In severe infections, patients may develop bleeding spots on the skin and mucous membranes, nausea, vomiting, intestinal distention and neuropsychiatric symptoms. The natural course of the disease is about 1 to 2 weeks, and the clinical course is often atypical if antibiotics are applied early in the disease.