Pneumonia topped the list of the five diseases posing the greatest risk to Thai people last year, claiming 406 lives and sending over 190,000 people to hospital.
A total of 192,189 people of all ages, from babies to the elderly, were hospitalised for treament of pneumonia in 2015, according to Health Ministry statisitcs.
This was a considerable reduction on 2014, when a total of 207,710 patients were treated for pneumonia, and 893 died.
Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lung caused by the build up of excess fluids and pus caused by an immune response to a viral, bacterial or fungal infection. It is prevalent during the cool season, particularly in the North and Northeast and areas with more rain.
The four other most prevalent serious illnesses were dengue haemorragic fever, food poisoning, influenza, and hand, foot and mouth disease.
Dengue haemorragic fever caused 123,169 people to seek treatment and killed 116 people. The largest number of patients were aged 10-14 years, followed by the 5-9 years group and then 15-24 years of age.
The most cases of haemorragic fever were reported in the Central Plains, followed by the Northeast and the North.
Food poisoning came third on the list and sent 120,126 people to seek treatment at hospitals last year. No deaths were reported. Most cases occurred at schools.
Influenza sent 69,798 people seeking treatment and claimed 28 lives. It mostly occurred in the Central Plains and the North.
Hand, foot and mouth disease infected 37,330 people and killed three people. The disease mostly occurred at nurseries, child care centres and kindergartens.
