How Do You Know When Pneumonia Spread to the Lungs

Pneumonia

Also chosen: Bronchopneumonia

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Summary

What is pneumonia?

Pneumonia is an infection in one or both of the lungs. It causes the air sacs of the lungs to fill upward with fluid or pus. It tin can range from balmy to severe, depending on the blazon of germ causing the infection, your age, and your overall health.

What causes pneumonia?

Bacterial, viral, and fungal infections can crusade pneumonia.

Bacteria are the most mutual cause. Bacterial pneumonia tin can occur on its own. It can besides develop later y'all've had certain viral infections such as a cold or the influenza. Several dissimilar types of bacteria can cause pneumonia, including:

• Streptococcus pneumoniae
• Legionella pneumophila; this pneumonia is often called Legionnaires' disease
• Mycoplasma pneumoniae
• Chlamydia pneumoniae
• Haemophilus influenzae

Viruses that infect the respiratory tract may cause pneumonia. Viral pneumonia is oft mild and goes away on its own inside a few weeks. Merely sometimes information technology is serious plenty that you lot need to get treatment in a hospital. If you have viral pneumonia, yous are at hazard of also getting bacterial pneumonia. The different viruses that can cause pneumonia include:

• Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
• Some common common cold and influenza viruses
• SARS-CoV-two, the virus that causes COVID-19

Fungal pneumonia is more than mutual in people who take chronic wellness issues or weakened immune systems. Some of the types include:

• Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP)
• Coccidioidomycosis, which causes valley fever
• Histoplasmosis
• Cryptococcus

Who is at risk for pneumonia?

Anyone can get pneumonia, just certain factors can increment your risk:

• Age; the risk is higher for children who are age 2 and under and adults historic period 65 and older
• Exposure to certain chemicals, pollutants, or toxic fumes
• Lifestyle habits, such as smoking, heavy alcohol use, and malnourishment
• Being in a hospital, especially if yous are in the ICU. Being sedated and/or on a ventilator raises the risk even more than.
• Having a lung disease
• Having a weakened immune system
• Accept problem coughing or swallowing, from a stroke or other condition
• Recently existence sick with a cold or the flu

What are the symptoms of pneumonia?

The symptoms of pneumonia can range from mild to severe and include:

• Fever
• Chills
• Cough, usually with phlegm (a slimy substance from deep in your lungs)
• Shortness of breath
• Chest pain when y'all exhale or coughing
• Nausea and/or vomiting
• Diarrhea

The symptoms tin vary for different groups. Newborns and infants may not show whatever signs of the infection. Others may vomit and take a fever and coughing. They might seem sick, with no energy, or exist restless.

Older adults and people who have serious illnesses or weak immune systems may have fewer and milder symptoms. They may even take a lower than normal temperature. Older adults who accept pneumonia sometimes take sudden changes in mental awareness.

What other issues can pneumonia cause?

Sometimes pneumonia can cause serious complications such as:

• Bacteremia, which happens when the bacteria motility into the bloodstream. It is serious and can lead to septic daze.
• Lung abscesses, which are collections of pus in cavities of the lungs
• Pleural disorders, which are conditions that affect the pleura. The pleura is the tissue that covers the outside of the lungs and lines the inside of your chest crenel.
• Kidney failure
• Respiratory failure

How is pneumonia diagnosed?

Sometimes pneumonia tin can be difficult to diagnose. This is considering information technology can cause some of the same symptoms as a common cold or the flu. It may accept time for y'all to realize that you accept a more serious condition.

Your health care provider may use many tools to brand a diagnosis:

• A medical history, which includes request about your symptoms
• A physical exam, including listening to your lungs with a stethoscope
• Diverse tests, such as
  • A chest x-ray
  • Blood tests such as a complete claret count (CBC) to see if your immune system is actively fighting an infection
  • A Blood culture to notice out whether you have a bacterial infection that has spread to your bloodstream

If you are in the hospital, have serious symptoms, are older, or accept other health bug, yous may also accept more tests, such as:

• Sputum test, which checks for bacteria in a sample of your sputum (spit) or phlegm (slimy substance from deep in your lungs).
• Breast CT scan to see how much of your lungs is affected. It may also show if yous have complications such as lung abscesses or pleural effusions.
• Pleural fluid civilisation, which checks for bacteria in a fluid sample that was taken from the pleural infinite
• Pulse oximetry or blood oxygen level exam, to cheque how much oxygen is in your claret
• Bronchoscopy, a process used to look inside your lungs' airways

What are the treatments for pneumonia?

Handling for pneumonia depends on the type of pneumonia, which germ is causing information technology, and how astringent it is:

• Antibiotics treat bacterial pneumonia and some types of fungal pneumonia. They practice non piece of work for viral pneumonia.
• In some cases, your provider may prescribe antiviral medicines for viral pneumonia
• Antifungal medicines treat other types of fungal pneumonia

Yous may need to be treated in a hospital if your symptoms are severe or if you are at risk for complications. While at that place, you lot may get additional treatments. For example, if your blood oxygen level is low, you lot may receive oxygen therapy.

It may take time to recover from pneumonia. Some people feel better within a week. For other people, it can take a month or more.

Can pneumonia be prevented?

Vaccines can aid prevent pneumonia caused past pneumococcal bacteria or the flu virus. Having adept hygiene, not smoking, and having a healthy lifestyle may also assist prevent pneumonia.

NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Found

• Sputum Civilisation (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

• FastStats: Pneumonia (National Center for Health Statistics)

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Pneumonia (National Institutes of Health)

• How the Lungs Piece of work (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Found) Also in Spanish

• Chlamydia Pneumoniae Infections (American University of Pediatrics) Too in Spanish
• Mycoplasma pneumoniae Infections (American Academy of Pediatrics) Also in Castilian
• Pneumonia (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Castilian

• Pneumonia (Nemours Foundation) Also in Castilian

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Source: https://medlineplus.gov/pneumonia.html

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