Inflammation of the lungs, or rather, inflammation of the lung tissue, in a medical environment is called pneumonia. Most often, the disease is infectious in nature and affects all structures of the respiratory organ. If you ignore the signs of pneumonia for a long time, this can lead to complications, there are known cases of death from this pathology.
General information about the disease
The human respiratory system, including the lungs, is subject to attack by various infections and viruses. If the immune system is weakened, then the inflammation takes root perfectly in the body, leading to the appearance of bronchitis, and going down below - to the diagnosis of "pneumonia".
This name in medicine means a number of diseases. Each of them has its own nature of action and the risk of complications. A professional examination and testing will allow you to determine the exact type of pathology.
Signs of pneumonia are most common in young children and in older people, when the immune system is most vulnerable. Moreover, this type of pathology is widespread and, judging byaccording to statistics, diagnosed in 15 cases out of 1000.
Despite the large selection of modern antibiotics, which are constantly expanding their spectrum of action, it is not possible to exclude the possibility of developing pneumonia.
Reasons
The inflammatory process in the lung tissues can be both infectious and non-infectious. In medicine, a number of bacteria and viruses are isolated that can cause pneumonia:
- Pneumococcus.
- Streptococci.
- Mycoplasma.
- Influenza, herpes viruses.
- Adenoviruses.
- Mushrooms (eg Candida).
If the disease is non-infectious in nature, then most often it is provoked by other factors:
- Poisonous substances inhaled by humans.
- Injury to the chest area.
- Respiratory tract burn.
- Treatment with radiotherapy.
Often, the disease can develop against the background of another dangerous pathology. In this case, the cause of pneumonia can be measles, anthrax, scarlet fever.
Risk factors
Many years of study of the disease have identified a number of factors that have a direct impact on the human body and can catalyze the development of pneumonia.
These include:
- Below average living standards.
- Persistent smoking.
- Unsuitable working conditions, inhalation of toxic substances and dust.
- Frequent contact with animals (may serve as carriers).
- Contact with a sick person.
- Heredity,genetic predisposition of the respiratory system.
If you suspect a lung injury, you should consult a doctor in a timely manner to prevent the development of complications of pneumonia.
How the disease is classified
In accordance with the existing classification, pneumonia is divided by type, form, and stages.
The etiology of the disease divides pneumonia into the following types:
- Fungal.
- Viral.
- Bacterial.
- Mixed.
- Mycoplasma.
The disease is divided according to the nature and form of the course:
- Spicy (croupous).
- Atypical.
- Long acute.
To select the necessary course of treatment, it is important to determine the lesion. The pulmonary system can be affected either partially or completely. It is customary to distinguish the following types of pneumonia:
- Focal, implies the development of the disease in a separate part of the lung tissue.
- Segmental, the disease develops in several parts of the lung tissue.
- Lobar, affecting the entire lung lobe.
- Confluent, characterized by the association of several foci of the disease.
- Total or bilateral pneumonia, affecting the entire lungs (the most severe type of pathology).
Different mild, moderate and severe degree of development of the inflammatory process in pneumonia.
Symptoms of the disease
Depending on the type of pneumonia, the disease may be accompanied byvarious symptoms. In some cases, it can be mistaken for a common cold and not pay due attention to the inflammatory process.
How to identify pneumonia? First you need to know the general symptoms of this disease and not miss their appearance:
- Shortness of breath of varying severity, which directly depends on the severity of the inflammatory process.
- In the elderly or in the presence of cardiovascular pathologies, cyanosis appears in the abdomen and nasolabial part of the face.
- Pneumonia cough first appears dry. After a few days it becomes wet, with purulent sputum.
- Increased body temperature indicates an inflammatory process.
- Constant feeling of fatigue, weakness, overwork.
- Pneumonia is characterized by muscle pain, frequent headaches.
The listed signs may indicate other diseases, but regardless of this, they require a visit to the doctor and a thorough diagnosis.
Signs of focal pneumonia
This type of disease at the initial stage develops quite imperceptibly. The temperature is kept at 38 degrees, there is increased sweating and difficulty in breathing. With the development of the inflammatory process, the patient feels pain when breathing, the temperature begins to rise. If the disease is left untreated, pronounced wheezing appears in the respiratory process, the condition rapidly worsens.
Bilateral pneumonia and its symptoms
Considered the most dangerous type of disease. According to statistics, this form of pneumonia claims up to 1.5 million lives a year.
The most dangerous thing is that the disease can go unnoticed, pneumonia without symptoms does not allow timely diagnosis and treatment. The absence of obvious signs is fraught with the development of serious complications, the risk of death increases.
The above looks intimidating, but don't panic. The imperceptible course of the disease does not always occur, and total pneumonia in most cases is accompanied by common characteristic symptoms. Moreover, with a strong inflammatory process, their intensity increases significantly.
Cough in case of pneumonia with bilateral lung disease quickly becomes wet, accompanied by pain and copious sputum.
Diagnosis of inflammatory disease
With intense symptoms, it is not difficult to determine the disease even at home. This helps to understand for yourself that a serious medical examination is required.
If the body does not show signs of developing an internal inflammatory process, then the risk of detecting an already severe stage of pneumonia increases.
When referring to a doctor with complaints of malaise, it is necessary to state in detail the history of your own feelings. Only with a complete picture, the specialist will identify signs of pneumonia and refer you for examination and testing.
Basic diagnostic methods include:
- Surrendera blood test (clinical and biochemical), which allows you to determine the presence of an inflammatory process in the body.
- X-ray of lungs. It is considered the most important step in the definition and further monitoring of the disease. Allows you to see the main lesions of the lung tissue.
- Bacteriological culture of sputum to determine the main causative agent of the disease and select the antibiotics necessary for pneumonia.
- A blood gas test is also done to determine the degree of oxygen saturation in the blood.
- Microscopy of sputum secretions is carried out, which makes it possible to remove suspicions of tuberculosis.
A person must clearly understand that even the absence of clear symptoms in the form of a cough does not exclude the development of the disease. Any inflammatory process can be accompanied by a slight temperature, especially with pneumonia, and you can’t turn a blind eye to this. Self-medication at home can remove the primary symptoms and hide the underlying disease, but over time, the inflammatory process will return with renewed vigor.
There are a number of auxiliary (additional) studies and tests for pneumonia, which are aimed at clarifying the diagnosis. They are prescribed in cases where the main examination did not give a clear result and the patient's pathological condition requires a more detailed study.
The only true advice is not to be shy and not afraid to go to the doctor. The stage of pneumonia at which it is detected plays a big role in the speed of its treatment.
Methods of treating pneumonia
A course of competent treatment shouldchoose only a doctor after the patient undergoes a course of examinations and passes certain tests for pneumonia. Moderate and severe disease is treated in a hospital under the constant supervision of medical staff.
Milder forms of the disease can be treated at home by regular visits to the attending physician or by arranging a medical consultation at home.
The main recommendation for the sick person is to stay in bed, drink plenty of fluids, which allows you to better cope with the temperature in case of pneumonia. The room in which the patient is located should be regularly ventilated, while the person should never be exposed to a draft.
The main course of treatment is aimed at the destruction of the causative agent of the disease and is called etiotropic therapy. The most commonly used antibacterial treatment using antibiotics. The dosage, frequency and duration of taking antibiotics for pneumonia is determined by a specialist, taking into account the patient's age, individual he alth characteristics and the nature of the disease.
For the treatment of inflammatory pathology of the lungs, drugs of various pharmacological actions are used:
- Semi-synthetic penicillins ("Oxycillin", "Ampicillin", "Ampioks").
- Lincosamides ("Lincomycin").
- Macrolides ("Sumamed").
- Cephalosporins ("Ceftriaxone").
- Fluoroquinolones ("Avelox").
- Aminoglycosides ("Gentamicin").
- Carbapenems ("Meronem", "Tienam").
The standard duration of an antibiotic course can last from seven days to two weeks, it is possible that in the process the doctor will replace one drug with another.
If the nature of the disease is fungal or viral, then appropriate antifungal and antiviral drugs are selected.
The main course of treatment can last about a month or even more, a lot depends on the severity of the inflammation and the individual response of the body to the drugs. If during all this time the situation does not improve, then additional diagnostics are carried out to exclude the development of oncology under the guise of pneumonia.
Symptom relief and recovery
In combination with the main course of treatment, the treatment of the main symptoms is used. The interaction between different types of drugs is under the control of a physician and should not bring additional discomfort to the patient.
Treating symptoms:
- Antipyretics are prescribed to reduce fever.
- It is recommended to use sputum thinners and get them out of the lungs as soon as possible.
- Bronchodilatation with bronchodilators reduces shortness of breath.
- Immunomodulating drugs will help restore and strengthen the body's natural defenses.
- Vitamin complex is selected to maintain poor he alth.
Drug treatment will effectively eliminate the causes of the disease and prevent pneumonia from developing into complicationsmore severe nature. However, in order for the body to fully recover, and the results of examinations and tests return to normal, it is recommended to resort to physiotherapy methods.
Physiotherapy is not prescribed before the temperature subsides. They resort to the following methods:
- Inhalations.
- Electrophoresis.
- UHF and UHF.
- Pneumatic massage.
- Paraffin therapy.
- Therapeutic gymnastics.
The duration of visits to such procedures is limited by the complete recovery of the patient, which is confirmed by the results of the next examination, including x-rays of the lungs.
How to protect yourself from pneumonia
After understanding how to spot pneumonia, it's equally important to learn how to avoid it.
According to the results of medical research, it can be concluded that the best way is to vaccinate the population. In Russia, an American-made vaccine is currently used, which has been fully tested and has shown good efficacy in the prevention of pneumonia. This approach is usually referred to as specific and applied to populations that are at increased risk:
- Age over 50.
- Residing in nursing homes.
- Having chronic heart disease, lung disease, as well as diabetes, kidney disease, HIV.
- He alth workers.
- Women during pregnancy, second and third trimesters.
If you do not find yourself in high-risk groups, thento prevent pneumonia, it will be enough to follow simple rules, make changes to your usual lifestyle:
- Increase immunity by all available means.
- Avoid sudden changes in temperature, especially hypothermia.
- Timely visit the dentist and heal caries.
- Give up bad habits.
- Avoid contact with sick people whenever possible.
- If the job is related to toxic production, then it is best to change it.
The best way to take care of your own he alth is to be vigilant about it. If you do not start the disease, then it will not be difficult to cure it.
Probable Complications
Complications of pneumonia are possible either in the absence of treatment or inconsistent application of doctor's recommendations.
While in the hospital, the risk of getting unpleasant consequences is reduced due to the constant monitoring of indicators by doctors. If the treatment takes place at home, then much depends on the personal responsibility of the patient.
Lack of competent regular treatment can provoke:
- Abscess of lung tissue.
- Accumulation of fluid in the pleural cavity.
- Accumulation of pus in the pleural cavity.
- Acute respiratory failure triggered by severe inflammation.
- Transition of inflammatory bacterial foci to other organs.
If purulent complications are allowed to appear, then a long and serious antibiotic treatment will be required, whichwill deal a significant blow to the entire body. In extremely severe cases, resort to the drainage procedure.
Prognosis for pneumonia
Every person who is faced with pneumonia naturally wants to know what forecasts await him, what risks he is exposed to.
Predicting any disease is not easy and depends on a number of factors:
- Age of the patient.
- The main causative agent of the inflammatory process.
- Possible comorbidities that complicate the course of drug therapy.
- Weakened immunity.
- Quality and literacy of prescribed treatment.
The most dangerous period for pneumonia is considered to be infancy, somewhere up to one year. Unfortunately, the percentage of deaths in this case varies from 10 to 30 percent.
If the patient's immunity is severely weakened, then the effectiveness of the treatment may be questioned, but modern medicine continues to improve and produce more and more effective drugs.
The best guarantee of a happy recovery is the timely start of treatment. If you do not delay the visit to the doctor, then the correct therapy leads to an inevitable recovery.
Symptoms are signals from the body that it needs help. Things like this shouldn't go unnoticed.
