Pneumonia, or pneumonia, is a fairly common disease. However, unlike the common cold, the disease has unpleasant statistics - up to 6 percent of people who encounter pathology die from it every year. It follows from this that the treatment of pneumonia must be thorough, which will certainly affect the quality of life of a person during the period of illness, because labor activity and the usual rhythm will have to be replaced by compliance with the hospital regimen.
Therefore, patients often have the question: how long is pneumonia treated? And the answer to it cannot be unambiguous, because the duration of the disease depends on the age of the person, his general he alth and the severity of the disease.
Pneumonia - what is it?
Pneumonia is a disease characterized by inflammation of the tissues of the lungs. The causative agent of the pathology is an infection that penetrates the lungs and becomes a catalyst for the inflammatory process in the tissues.
At first glance, it is quite difficult to distinguish pneumonia from a cold, which is why it is important to consult a doctor in time andcarefully follow all his recommendations. In this case, the question of how long pneumonia is treated is unlikely to be relevant, because the disease will pass as quickly and without complications.
Pneumonia is diagnosed by the following symptoms:
- shortness of breath;
- cough with phlegm;
- high body temperature;
- chest pain.
The symptoms described are listed in order of likelihood of occurrence. Shortness of breath and cough with sputum production are observed in all patients, fever - in most, and pain in the sternum is less common.
Pneumonia in children
According to the etiology of the disease, pneumonia occurs most often in children, mainly under the age of seven. This is due to the cellular composition of the blood. In an adult, the number of subtypes of leukocytes is balanced in such a way as to protect the body from infection, respond to its penetration, and destroy it in various ways. In preschool children, the leukocyte formula is changed due to the predominance of lymphocytes, which makes the immune system weaker.
Therefore, the answer to the question of how long pneumonia is treated in children will be unequivocal: the disease can take a long time, up to several weeks, and the course of the disease itself will be more severe, with a pronounced symptomatic picture.
Pneumonia in the elderly
No less dangerous than for young children, pneumonia is for patients over 65 years of age. At this age, the immune system is weakened by existing chronicdiseases, therefore, answering the question "how much pneumonia is treated in adults after reaching the threshold of old age", we can answer the following: approximately the same number of days as in children, that is, more than in a patient of young and middle age, other things being equal.
Patients in this category are strongly encouraged to be treated in a hospital setting. Constant monitoring, the ability to administer medications through injections and droppers, bed rest and a special diet will speed up recovery and avoid complications. The duration of treatment for pneumonia in adults with pneumonia in the hospital is on average 10-14 days, after which they continue to be treated at home on an outpatient basis.
Outpatient care
Depending on the severity of the disease and the patient's well-being, pneumonia can be treated both in a hospital and at home. But it is important to note that therapy at home should be carried out in compliance with a sparing bed regimen. Carrying pneumonia "on the legs" is extremely dangerous.
Approximately 70 percent of all patients can be treated at home. Adults usually encounter a bacterial type of pneumonia, that is, the provocateur of the disease is a bacterium (streptococcus, staphylococcus, Haemophilus influenzae), which entered the body and was not destroyed by the immune system until the symptomatic picture developed.
How muchThe time it takes to treat pneumonia in adults on an outpatient basis depends on compliance with the doctor's instructions and the correct choice of therapy. Under favorable conditions, improvement in well-being occurs after 4-5 days, but weakness may persist longer. Full recovery occurs in 15-20 days.
Inpatient treatment
Before finding out how long pneumonia in adults is treated in a hospital, it is important to clarify that hospital stay is required only in certain cases.
First of all, the severity of the disease and the risk of complications are assessed. For example, hospitalization is recommended if the patient is over 65 years of age, if their condition inspires concern (confusion, high temperature, accelerated heart rate, complications), or if the patient is difficult to take care of himself.
Sometimes a doctor may recommend an outpatient regimen, but after testing and detecting, for example, a high level of urea in the blood, transfer the patient to a hospital.
Because more seriously ill patients are admitted to the hospital, the question of how many days pneumonia is treated in adults has a different answer than in the case of outpatient care.
In severe cases of the disease, the patient's disability can be up to one and a half months. At the same time, even after the specified period, residual effects after the disease can be observed.
Pathological lesions
When talking about the severity of the disease, it is necessary to clarifythat it is not an abstract quantity. There are 4 categories of inflammation of the lung tissue, based on the area affected:
- focal;
- segmental;
- share;
- gross.
To understand the principle of classification, it is important to understand the anatomical structure of the lung. A segment of the lung is a piece of tissue, conditions from many alveoli. Several segments are combined into the concept of a pulmonary lobe. The tissues of both lungs are united by the concept of croup.
Obviously, the larger the tissue inflamed, the more severe the symptoms and the longer it will take to recover. Therefore, a comparison of how much segmental pneumonia in adults and focal inflammation is treated will be in favor of the first in terms of the number of days that will have to be spent on sick leave.
Patient Immunity
The duration of illness depends on the patient as much as on the severity of the disease. First of all, it is necessary to take into account factors such as the age of the patient and his state of he alth. Chronic diseases prolong the period of pneumonia, make the symptomatic picture brighter due to reduced immunity.
Decrease in the activity of the immune system can also occur with specific diseases, such as HIV or primary immunodeficiencies. Cytostatics and glucocorticosteroids, which are used to treat autoimmune diseases, to suppress the immune response, negatively affect immunity.
Patient living conditions
To the second categoryFactors affecting how much pneumonia is treated include patient behavior and living conditions. Poor nutrition, unsanitary conditions, financial difficulties that do not allow you to purchase the necessary medicines, or the patient's unwillingness to adhere to the regime negatively affect the recovery process.
Sometimes the cause of prolonged pneumonia is the wrong choice of medicine, most often antibiotics.
