Pneumonia - deadly disease among children and adults

Pneumonia being an acute respiratory infection affects the lungs and is the largest infectious cause of death among children. The reason for the spread of this disease can be in a number of ways e.g.; the lungs get affected when a person inhales having viruses and bacteria in his/her nose or throat. It can also spread through blood during or after the birth of the child or through the air-droplets from a sneeze or cough.

It can be very mild that the child/adult doesn’t even notice the changes in his/her body or it can be very serious that he/she might have to be admitted to the hospital since the symptoms vary from person to person and situation.

The most common and serious form of it is bacterial pneumonia in which the bacteria spreads gradually causing high fever, excessive sweat and, an increase in pulse rate and breath.

Viral pneumonia is also very common in which the person especially a child gets fever, headache, and dry cough and the development time of this pneumonia can be over several days and then suddenly affects the body within 1 or 2 days it gets worse.

Other symptoms can be;

Ø Stabbing/sharp chest pain.
Ø Nausea
Ø Loss of appetite
Ø Fatigue

The diagnose of this disease can be very difficult since the symptoms of pneumonia are quite similar to other common diseases including influenza or cold, so it becomes very important to find out what are the causes of the illness and to determine doctor ask about the family history and then according to that he/she will prescribe tests (that can be chest x-rays, blood tests, CT- scan, Pulse oximetry, etc) or physical exam.

The treatments of pneumonia may differ from situation to situation. Mild pneumonia can be treated at home without consulting a professional with rest, drinking enough water, or taking antibiotics.

The virus and bacteria are different, the virus doesn’t go by taking antibiotics, whereas the bacteria causing pneumonia can be treated by antibiotics. It’s very important to complete the dose of antibiotic when taken otherwise the bacteria become resistant.

To reduce fever or body ache the patient can take any form of pain killer if he/she doesn’t have any relevant allergies.

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References:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pneumonia/treatment/

https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/pneumonia/symptoms-and-diagnosis

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/pneumonia

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