Until recently, pneumonia was considered a fatal disease. Before antibiotics were invented, pneumonia was fatal, but recently, when pharmacists offer a wide range of drugs, this pathology is cured, and if you seek qualified help in time, then the therapy passes quickly and without complications. What is this disease, and how does pneumonia manifest itself?
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 damage to the bronchioles and the main respiratory units develops. The latter carry out oxygen exchange in the body between the lungs and blood. Inflammatory fluid sweats out 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, inflammation of the lungs is caused by an infectious agent. But you can determine the presence of the disease after examining the doctor andundergoing a number 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 itself?
What causes pneumonia?
Any disease never occurs from scratch, there are always provoking factors. Inflammation of the lungs is caused by microorganisms, which are infectious agents, these are:
- Pneumococcus.
- Friedlander's stick.
- Staphylococci.
- Streptococci.
- Hemophilus influenzae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
- Mycoplasmas.
- Proteus.
- Enterobacteria.
- Chlamydia.
But not only bacteria can lead to an inflammatory process in the lungs, viruses can also provoke the disease:
- Flu.
- Paraflu.
- Herpes.
- Chickenpox.
- Adenoviruses.
- Respiratory syncytial virus.
But before answering the question of how pneumonia manifests itself in adults, symptoms that should make you see a doctor, you need to find out which groups of patients are most susceptible to the disease.
Which category of people is more susceptible to illness?
Most likely to develop the disease faster in people who are human:
- With a weakened immune system.
- Smokers, because their own cleaning of the bronchi is weakened due to addiction.
- Often sufferingfrom stress (the latter depress the immune system).
- With congenital pathologies and malformations of the bronchi and lungs.
- Alcohol abusers.
- The malnourished.
- With chronic pathologies, including diseases of the heart, blood vessels and pyelonephritis.
- Frequently ill with colds.
- Forced to spend a lot of time lying down.
- After general anesthesia.
- To the elderly and the elderly.
Before you figure out how pneumonia manifests itself in children, 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.
- Hypercooling.
- Lack of fresh air.
- Lack of sleep.
- Insufficient hardening.
- Visiting institutions where children often get sick.
But how can you identify pneumonia symptoms? Do children have the same symptoms as adults or not?
Signs of pneumonia in adults
Symptoms for each patient may 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 conducting an examination and prescribing several types of diagnostics. Pathology can develop both acutely and gradually. But how does pneumonia manifest itself, what symptoms should make you go to the doctor? Overlookdisease symptoms are very difficult:
- High temperature reaching up to 40 degrees.
- Severe headache.
- Drowsy.
- Total lack of appetite.
- Shortness of breath.
- Apathy.
- Cough - dry at first, then 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 are the signs that indicate 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, can result in complications and, in some cases, death. If in an adult the disease occurs with the same symptoms, then in a child they are slightly different. But how does pneumonia manifest itself in children? Are symptoms similar or different in 8 year olds and newborns?
Symptomatics in children
A child is not able to independently assess his he alth, so parents should be very careful, and if they suddenly notice changes in behavior, they should determine what the problem is. The main symptom of the disease in a child is a cough. Also, adults should be concerned about this condition:
- Child won't eat or drink, lethargic.
- High fever is stable, but it is worth remembering that not all children may develop it.
- Child is short of breath.
- The skin becomes pale, and a slightly noticeable blue appears around the lips and nose.
Most often, viral pneumonia begins after SARS, so if the child is sick, you should not self-medicate so as not to miss the development of pathology.
Inflammation of the lungs is also fixed in children who have just been born. But why does pneumonia appear in newborns? Why did he appear?
What causes pneumonia in newborns
Even in the womb, a 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. Immediately after birth, doctors detect pneumonia in a 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 suffered by a woman while carrying a baby.
- Having an untreated chronic infection.
- Use of steroid drugs by the expectant mother.
- Intrauterine fetal hypoxia.
- Hereditary lung diseases and other pathologies.
How does pneumonia manifest itself, symptoms in children? Symptoms in the baby immediately after birth, if the infection occurred in the womb, appear very quickly, and the doctor examiningthe baby will be able to notice them: shortness of breath, jaundice, a weak cry and a face with a slightly noticeable blue.
After detecting such signs, the baby is immediately sent to the intensive care unit and resuscitation is prescribed to help cure the disease without consequences for the further development of the baby.
How does pneumonia manifest itself, symptoms in children who caught the infection by airborne droplets after they were discharged from the hospital? Inexperienced parents can miss the disease, so the doctor should warn them what to look for:
- For breathing: if it is difficult, you need to call a doctor.
- Rhinitis and shortness of breath.
- Shallow breathing.
All these signs should cause parents to worry, call a doctor or an ambulance if the symptoms appear very quickly and all at once.
How pneumonia manifests itself in adults is already known, but what diagnostic methods will help confirm the diagnosis or refute it?
Instrumental and laboratory diagnostics
If the patient went to the doctor with complaints that are very similar to the symptoms of pneumonia, then first he will be sent for x-rays. It is this method that allows you to see even small foci of pathology. Normal listening is not always effective, as it is possible to miss lesions located too deep.
Also, the patient is additionally prescribed laboratory tests, because pneumonia canflow sluggishly, and the foci will not appear on the first day. But how long does it take for pneumonia to show up? In some cases, the disease may show itself immediately, but most often this 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 used if the doctor cannot accurately diagnose or the disease has been progressing in the body for too long.
Therapeutic Methods
Treatment of a patient with pneumonia should be started immediately from the moment the diagnosis was 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 can 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 prescribedexpectorant drugs: "Lazolvan", "ACC" or "Ambroxol". With bronchospasm, it is recommended to take "Eufillin", "Ventolin" or "Teofedrin" to expand the bronchi. Be sure to use inhalers to help thin the phlegm.
In each case, an individual treatment is selected for the patient, depending on his symptoms and the course of the disease. We have already discussed how to treat pneumonia, symptoms in adults without and with fever. Now it's time to figure out what the forecasts are?
Prognosis 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 aureus, pneumococcus, influenza virus and others.
Also, pneumonia carries a special danger:
- Children from birth to one year old.
- People with aspiration pneumonia.
- Elderly and debilitated patients.
- Immunocompromised people.
- To patients who applied for qualified help very late.
- People with extensive lung tissue damage.
But you need to know not only how pneumonia manifests itself in adults and children, but also about what complications are possible after the disease. Complicationsvery common.
Complications after pneumonia
In adults, pneumonia responds well to treatment and gives good results only if all the doctor's recommendations are followed. Otherwise, if you do not follow the course of treatment and other recommendations, the disease can lead to serious complications, most of which can affect the body for the rest of the patient's life. If treatment is not completed, the disease will return in a more complex form and cause such complications:
- Chronic bronchitis. This disease most often appears after a severe form of pneumonia. This pathology requires antibiotics and expectorants.
- Bronchial asthma. If it is not properly treated or the full course of treatment is not completed, then the chronic form of bronchitis eventually turns into 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.
- Immune weakening. Any pathology adversely affects human immunity, which means that the body will no longer be able to effectively fight viruses that get inside, and as a result, new pathologies.
- Abscess of the lung. Pus may 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 tothe first symptoms of pneumonia, consult a doctor and undergo a full course of treatment, following all the recommendations of the doctor. Only in this case, the therapy will be fast and effective, without any consequences.
