Treatment options in Pneumonia

by Groshan Fabiola

Most of the cases of pneumonia are triggered by bacterial factors and are usually treated with 5-10 days of ant biotherapy, even longer in case of an impaired immune system. The doctor will choose the most appropriate antibiotic for your condition after taking notice of your age, symptoms, their severity and the eventual need for hospitalization. Most physicians recommend a broad-spectrum antibiotic with bactericide effects on a large number of bacteria; still, most of the antibiotics available have a good curing effect on pneumonia.

In less severe cases with no need for hospitalization, the doctor will prescribe you one of the next possible treatments: 1. Macrolides such as Biaxin, Biaxin XL, Ery-tab or Zithromax. 2. Tetracyclines like Doxycycline 3. Fluoroquinolones such as Levaquin or Avelox.

In case of hospital care, the mentioned antibiotics may also be administered but in addition, other several ones are available for more severe cases of pneumonia: 1. Cephalosporines like Ceclor, Duricef or Ceftin. 2. Penicillin like Augumentin, Amoxil, Omnipen, Biomox or Timentin 3. Vancomycin Mild to moderate pneumonia cases can also be cured with a new-generation antibiotic class called Ketolides.

In healthy young subjects, the effects of the proper ant biotherapy must usually be seen in about 2-3 days. If by this time the symptoms show no real amelioration, you might need bacterial culture and testing for sensitivity to antibiotics. This will allow the physician to determine which organism is responsible for your pneumonia type and whether you have developed resistance to that particular antibiotic.

Hospitalization is only requited in over 65 years old patients, associated conditions like diabetes, heart or kidney failure, severe illness with hypoxia, severe chest pain, no real improvements after therapy or the impossibility to eat or keep food when in this case intravenous feeding is required.

Pneumonia can also be caused by viruses similar to the Influenza causing the flu or the varicella-zoster virus causing chicken-pox. For viral types of pneumonia there is currently no actual treatment except home stay, care and treatment for the symptoms. Pneumonia cases caused by Varicella virus can be cured by using the medication called Acyclovir.

If your case is not severe enough to require hospitalization, you will not need to identify the responsible bacteria. If you have been hospitalized, additional testing will be done to find the exact cause of pneumonia. If you immediately start the ant biotherapy you will see a faster improvement and you will rapidly feel better.


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Diagnosing process in pneumonia

by Groshan Fabiola

There are two main categories of pneumonia based on how the disease was contacted. There is community acquired pneumonia and hospital acquired pneumonia. If a person suffers from the first category of pneumonia, then the diagnosing process can be very simple, based only on a physical examination and the medical history of the patient. However, this is only if his/ her pneumonia is mild to moderate. On the other hand, if a person suffers from hospital acquired pneumonia, diagnosing the condition can be very difficult.

The first step when diagnosing pneumonia is to know the personal as well as medical history of the patient. Some of the important aspects that the pneumonia patient must be sure to tell his/ her doctor are: - if he/ she has suffered from any recent respiratory infection or if he/ she had such an infection; - if you have been in contact with anybody that has pneumonia or suffers from other problems of the respiratory system; - you should also tell your doctor if you are a smoker, or if you use any drugs or drink alcohol; even if you have quite, you should still tell your doctor because any information is very important in diagnosing pneumonia;

A second step in diagnosing pneumonia is a physical exam. The most used and also very important tool that is used to diagnose pneumonia is the stethoscope. With the help of this instrument, your doctor can listen to the sounds of your chest. The most suggestive sounds that can indicate pneumonia are: - rales: a bubbling sound; if these reales are heard on one side of your chest or when you are lying down, then they indicate that you have pneumonia; - rhonchi: unusual rumblings that indicate the presence of a very thick fluid; Another test used to diagnose pneumonia is percussion. Your doctor will tap your chest and if a dull thud is heard instead of a drum like sound, then you probably are suffering from pneumonia. In this case further tests must be done to proper diagnose pneumonia.

This is the easy part, because this is the way people that have community acquired pneumonia are diagnosed. However, when it comes to people that are possible suspects of hospital acquired pneumonia, then diagnosing this condition ca be very difficult. The main reason for this is that all these possible pneumonia patients have similar signs.

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Triggers and causes of pneumonia

by Groshan Fabiola

Pneumonia is the inflammation of the lungs usually triggered by viruses, bacteria or fungi. It can result as a complication of an earlier infection of the respiratory system and usually goes off when the body's immune system is weakened by common viral infections such as those caused by Influenza.

There are many clinical types of pneumonia according to the localization of the infection; when the illness only affects one pulmonary lobe it is called lobar pneumonia, when the pneumonia involves the bronchia, it can affect both lungs.

Pneumonia associated or caused by the virus Influenza is known to be the seventh cause of death among the population of the USA. Most affected by pulmonary infections are elder persons of 65 and over; about 715000 cases of pneumonia are registered in female patients every year in America while the male number of pneumonia patient is about 680000 per year.

The most often encountered cause of fungal pneumonia is triggered by Pneumocystis carinii and is mostly seen in persons with a weak immune system very often due to the HIV infection. Some related disease of the pulmonary system like tuberculosis can also be responsible for the occurrence of pneumonia. An also commonly encountered cause of pneumonia is the inhalation of food, gases, liquids or even dust.

In spite of the mentioned triggers, the most common cause of pneumonias all over the world is viruses affecting especially young persons. Viral infections are usually due to the respiratory syncitial virus and have similar symptoms with conditions caused by the virus Influenza. The usual symptoms of viral pneumonia are fever, headaches, dry cough, muscle pains, weakness and increasing breathing difficulties.

Most of the bacterial-linked cases of pneumonia are triggered by Streptococcus Pneumoniae especially active when the body' immune system is weakened. This type of pneumonia can produce major damages to the entire organism due to the high potential of the bacteria to multiply and spread to the brain causing meningitis or to the bloodstream causing bacteriemia. The onset of bacterial pneumonia can be sudden or prolonged and will debutate with symptoms like chills, chest pains, cough with rust colored or greenish mucus, tachycardia and increased breathing rate. Also causing pneumonia are small Mycoplasmas evolving with violent attacks and sparse whitish mucus.

Most of the pneumonia cases have no actual treatment; bacterial ones can be cured with antibiotics but a developing resistance is also possible after the ant biotherapy. A vaccine against bacterial pneumonia is also available but its action is only guaranteed for about 80% of the healthy population. Influenza vaccination is also recommended as the two illnesses are linked with each other in many cases.


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What are the complications of pneumonia?

by Groshan Fabiola

Pneumonia is a very serious condition that also has some very severe complications. Pneumonia is on the third place on the list of most frequent causes of hospitalization. More than a million and a half people that suffer from pneumonia are hospitalized every year. Although most of the people that suffer from pneumonia respond very well to treatment and most of them are cured, the infection caused by pneumonia is still a serious problem that can bring a lot of complications. In some countries, pneumonia is the first cause of death because of an infection.

The severity of pneumonia depends on several factors like age, the state of their health or weak immune system. However, even if you do not suffer from a very serious case of pneumonia, there is always the risk of developing a complication. The most common pneumonia complications are: abscesses, respiratory failure and bacteremia.

Abscesses are some of the most dangerous pneumonia complications. These are cavities filled with pus that are found in your lungs. Besides the fact that they are filled with pus, these pneumonia complications also have thick walls and they form when the infection that you have has destroyed your lung tissue. These pneumonia complications are the result of a mixture of organisms that are carried into your lungs. If these abscesses are not treated, this can cause hemorrhage and thus can lead to death. However, there are many antibiotics available that can reduce the risk of death or hemorrhage considerably.

Another complication of pneumonia can be respiratory failure. This is actually the main cause of death in patients that suffer from pneumococcal pneumonia. When your lungs are not able to function properly, the quantity of oxygen is reduced and you risk to die. As you can see, this is a very serious pneumonia complication. Failure to breath can happen from the changes in your lungs that occur when you suffer from pneumonia. Failure can also occur when you loose the needed oxygen from your arteries when your pneumonia case results in a very abnormal flow of the blood.

The third pneumonia complication is bacteremia, that means bacteria in your blood. This is one of the complications that mostly happens in cases of streptococcus pneumonia. However, there are few the cases where this infection actually spreads to other locations of your body. Bacteremia is also a very common complication of some other gram negative microbes, which include haemophilus influenzae.

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Risk factors for pneumonia

by Groshan Fabiola

There are a lot of risk factors when it comes to pneumonia. These factors mainly apply to adults. Some of the most common risk factors for pneumonia are: environmental pollutants, alcohol, drugs, serious lung problems or a weakened immune system.

Environmental pollutants and smoke are some of the most important risk factors in pneumonia. If a person smokes more than one pack of cigarettes a day he/ she risks to develop pneumonia much more than a person who does not smoke. Moreover, even if you are not a smoker, but are exposed daily to cigarette smoke, then you are at risk of developing pneumonia as much as a person who smokes is. If you quit smoking, then the risk of developing pneumonia is reduced very much, but the entire benefits of quitting take almost ten years until they are realized. Besides cigarette smoke, industrial smoke, toxic fumes or any other pollutants can damage cilia as well, putting you at risk of developing pneumonia.

Alcohol and drugs, either combined or used separately are also a very big risk factor in pneumonia cases. These are substances that act like sedatives, thus diminishing your reflexes that trigger sneezing and coughing. Furthermore, alcohol intercedes with the actions of your white blood cells, that play the role of destroying bacteria. So the quantity of alcohol you drink is highly related with developing pneumonia or any other infectious disease. People that used drugs intravenously are also very much at risk of developing pneumonia because they can suffer from an infection at the site of the injection, infections that then can spread through your blood stream.

Dormitory conditions, believe it or not, can also be risk factors for pneumonia. Studies have shown that students or recruits are more likely to develop pneumonia than a normal person. However, studies have also shown that these people are more likely to develop a milder pneumonia and they are at lower risk of developing a more serious pneumonia type.

Your immune system also plays a very important risk in pneumonia cases. People that have an impaired immune system are very susceptible to pneumonia. Any conditions that somehow compromises your immune system makes you very vulnerable to pneumonia.

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You can find great content regarding pneumonia symptoms, pneumonia vaccine and many moreby visiting http://www.pneumonia-center.com/