More recently, pneumonia was considered a deadly disease. Before antibiotics were invented, pneumonia was fatal, but recently, when pharmacists offer a wide selection of drugs, this pathology is cured, and if you seek qualified help in time, the therapy goes quickly and without complications. What is this disease, and how is pneumonia manifested?
Inflammation of the lungs - what is this disease?
Inflammation of the lungs is not called a separate pathology, but a group of diseases in which the defeat of the bronchioles and the main respiratory units develops. The latter carry out oxygen exchange between the lungs and blood in the body. Inflammatory fluid is sweating in the alveoli, as a result, a small area of the lung ceases to participate in gas exchange.
In addition, it is this area that becomes dangerous, as it is a source of poisoning for the whole organism. As a result, pneumonia is caused by an infectious agent. But you can determine the presence of the disease after examining a doctor and undergoing a series of diagnostic studies. Therapy should be prescribed to the patient immediately after the foci of the disease have been identified in his lungs. What causes the disease, and how does pneumonia manifest?
What causes pneumonia?
Any disease never arises from scratch, there are always provoking factors. Inflammation of the lungs is caused by microorganisms, which are infectious agents, these are:
- Pneumococci.
- Friedlander's wand.
- Staphylococci.
- Streptococcus
- Hemophilic and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
- Mycoplasmas.
- Proteus.
- Enterobacteria.
- Chlamydia
But not only bacteria can lead to an inflammatory process in the lungs, viruses can also provoke a disease:
- Flu.
- Parainfluenza
- Herpes.
- Chickenpox.
- Adenoviruses.
- Respiratory syncytial virus.
But before answering the question of how pneumonia in adults manifests itself, the symptoms that should make you consult a doctor, you need to find out which groups of patients are most susceptible to the disease.
Which category of people is more prone to illness?
Most likely, the disease will develop faster in people related to people:
- With a weakened immune system.
- To smokers, since their own bronchial cleaning is weakened due to addiction.
- Often suffering from stress (the latter inhibit the immune system).
- With congenital pathologies and malformations of the bronchi and lungs.
- Abusing alcoholic beverages.
- Eating improperly.
- With chronic pathologies, including diseases of the heart, blood vessels and pyelonephritis.
- Often ill with colds.
- Forced to spend a large amount of time lying down.
- After applying general anesthesia.
- Old people and the elderly.
Before you understand how pneumonia in children manifests itself, you also need to find out which category of children is more susceptible to the disease, since they have completely different risk factors:
- Frequent diseases of ENT organs.
- Overheating.
- Hypothermia.
- Lack of fresh air.
- Lack of sleep.
- Insufficient hardening.
- Visit to child care facilities where children often get sick.
But how can one determine pneumonia, symptoms? In children, the symptoms are the same as in adults, or not?
Signs of pneumonia in adults
Symptoms for each patient can be different, because it all depends on the etiology, but they are all very similar to the signs of a cold or flu. Therefore, only a doctor can make an accurate diagnosis after examining and prescribing several types of diagnostics. Pathology can develop both acutely and gradually. But how is pneumonia manifested, what symptoms should make you go to the doctor? It is very difficult not to notice the signs of the disease:
- High temperature reaching up to 40 degrees.
- Strong headache.
- Drowsiness.
- Complete lack of appetite.
- Dyspnea.
- Apathy.
- Cough - first dry, and then it becomes wet.
If the disease has been present in the human body for a long time, then when coughing, mucus with pus and an admixture of blood can be released. These signs suggest that the human body has a disease - pneumonia. Symptoms in adults without fever are not very different: body aches, aching chest pain, cough and general weakness.
Pneumonia, if left untreated on time, can result in complications, and in some cases, death. If in an adult the disease proceeds with some symptoms, then in a child they are slightly different. But how does pneumonia manifest in children? Are the symptoms in children of 8 years old and newborns similar or different?
Symptoms in children
The child is not able to independently evaluate their health, so parents should be very careful, and if they suddenly notice a change in behavior, they must determine what the problem is. The main symptom of a child’s illness is coughing. Also, adults should be concerned about this condition:
- The child does not eat or drink, lethargic.
- The temperature is stable, but it is worth remembering that it may not appear in all children.
- The child often breathes, shortness of breath appears.
- The skin becomes pale, and a slightly noticeable blue appears around the lips and nose.
Most often, viral pneumonia begins after acute respiratory viral infections, so if a child is sick, do not self-medicate so as not to miss the development of pathology.
Inflammation of the lungs is also recorded in children who have just been born. But why does pneumonia appear in newborns? The reasons for its appearance?
What triggers the appearance of pneumonia in newborns
Even in the womb, the baby can become infected with intrauterine pneumonia. Such a disease is most often observed in infants born prematurely, since the immaturity of the respiratory organs predisposes to the development of pathology. Right after birth, doctors detect pneumonia in the newborn, symptoms appear in the first hours of life. The causative agents of such an infection can be fungi, viruses, streptococci and other microorganisms. The main causes of pathology in infants:
- Infectious diseases carried by a woman while carrying a baby.
- The presence of untreated chronic infection.
- The use of future mother steroid drugs.
- Intrauterine hypoxia of the fetus.
- Hereditary lung diseases and other pathologies.
How is pneumonia manifested, symptoms in children? Symptoms in the baby immediately after birth, if the infection occurred in the womb, appear very quickly, and the doctor examining the baby will be able to notice them: respiratory failure, jaundice, weak cry and a little face with a slightly noticeable blue.
After detecting such signs, the baby is immediately sent to the intensive care unit and resuscitation measures are prescribed that will help cure the disease without consequences for the further development of the baby.
How is pneumonia manifested, symptoms in children who caught an infection by airborne droplets after they were discharged from the hospital? Inexperienced parents can skip the disease, so the doctor should warn them, what to look for:
- On breathing: if it is difficult, you need to call a doctor.
- Runny nose and shortness of breath.
- Shallow breathing.
All these signs should make parents worry, call a doctor at home or an ambulance if the symptoms appear very quickly and immediately.
How is pneumonia manifested in adults? it is already known, but what diagnostic methods will help confirm the diagnosis or refute it?
Diagnostics instrumental and laboratory
If the patient went to the doctor with complaints that are very similar to the symptoms of pneumonia, then he will first be referred for radiography. This method allows you to see even small foci of pathology. Normal listening is not always effective, as you can skip foci located too deep.
Also, the patient is additionally prescribed laboratory tests, because pneumonia can proceed sluggishly, and foci will not appear on the first day. But after how much pneumonia appears? In some cases, the disease can show itself immediately, but most often it happens after the flu or SARS.
Among other studies, the patient is prescribed:
- General sputum analysis - with its help you can determine what exactly comes out of the bronchi.
- Bacteriological examination of sputum - this analysis makes it possible to identify which bacterium caused the disease.
- Blood and urine tests - they are necessary to confirm the etiology of the pathology.
More sophisticated diagnostic methods can also be applied if the doctor cannot accurately diagnose or the disease has progressed in the body for too long.
Therapeutic methods
Therapy of a patient with pneumonia should begin immediately from the moment the diagnosis has been confirmed. The first drugs that are prescribed to the patient are broad-spectrum antibiotics. The doctor prescribes them taking into account the patient’s condition, these may be such drugs: “Levofloxacin”, “Moxifloxacin”, “Sumamed” and others. Antibiotics are advised to take at least 7 days, after 3 days the drug can be replaced if the symptoms of the disease do not decrease.
If the disease developed during an influenza epidemic, then in this case it is recommended to take interferon preparations, such as Laferon or Viferon.
Also, the patient is prescribed expectorant drugs: "Lazolvan", "ACC" or "Ambroxol". With bronchospasm, it is recommended to take "Eufillin", "Ventolin" or "Theofedrine" to expand the bronchi. Be sure to use inhalers to help thin the sputum.
In each individual case, an individual treatment is selected for the patient depending on his symptoms and the course of the disease. We have already figured out how to treat pneumonia, symptoms in adults without and with fever. Now it’s worth understanding what are the forecasts?
Forecasts of doctors after illness
Treatment gives good results if you start it on time and follow all the doctor's recommendations. In our fast-paced time, when medicine and other industries do not stand still, there are many methods of treating even the most advanced cases. It is very dangerous to self-medicate if pneumonia was caused by the presence of microorganisms such as staphylococcus, pneumococcus, influenza virus and others.
Also, pneumonia is of particular danger:
- Children from birth to one year.
- People with aspiration pneumonia.
- Elderly and debilitated patients.
- People with immunodeficiency.
- Patients who seek qualified help are very late.
- People with extensive damage to lung tissue.
But you need to know not only how pneumonia in adults and children is manifested, but also about what complications are possible after a disease. Complications are very common.
Complications after pneumonia
In adults, pneumonia is well treated and gives good results only if you follow all the doctor's recommendations. Otherwise, if the course of treatment and other recommendations are not followed, then the disease can lead to serious complications, most of them can affect the body for the rest of the patient's life. If you do not complete the treatment, then the disease will return back in a more complex form and cause such complications:
- Chronical bronchitis. This disease most often appears after severe pneumonia. This pathology requires the use of antibiotics and expectorant drugs.
- Bronchial asthma. If it is improperly treated or not complete the full course of treatment, then the chronic form of bronchitis over time becomes bronchial asthma.
- Fibrosis of the lung. Severe forms of pneumonia cause damage to the tissues of the organ, after which they heal and form fibrosis.
- Weakened immunity. Any pathology adversely affects the human immunity, which means that the body will no longer be able to effectively deal with viruses that get inside, and as a result, new pathologies.
- Abscess of the lung. Pus can accumulate in the lung, which can be removed by a special pumping method. This procedure is very painful and unpleasant.
In order not to lead to complications that will be very difficult to cure, you need to consult a doctor with the first symptoms of pneumonia and complete the full course of treatment, observing all the recommendations of the doctor. Only in this case, the therapy will be quick and effective, without any consequences.