Pneumonia is one of the most common and dangerous infectious diseases, the nosocomial form often ends in a lethal outcome. How does pneumonia manifest, the main symptoms in adults?
- The main signs of pneumonia
- Symptoms of the disease depending on the type of pneumonia
- Diagnostics
- How to treat pneumonia
- Folk methods
Learn what is bilateral pneumonia Antibiotics for pneumonia - a list of drugs Learn how pneumonia manifests How to recognize viral pneumonia - symptoms and treatment Find out whether inflammation is contagious
The main signs of pneumonia
Under the inflammation of the lungs are meant a group of diseases, for which the damage of bronchioles, respiratory organs is characteristic. Alveoli form a fluid with pathogenic microorganisms, part of the lung ceases to participate in gas exchange. The main causative agent of the disease - the bacteria, which penetrate the body by airborne droplets.
Primary pneumonia develops as an independent disease, secondary refers to complications of acute respiratory infections. Inflammation of the lungs is a contagious disease, so the patient should be isolated.
How does pneumonia begin? When pathogenic microorganisms get into the alveoli, the defeat of the cells of the bronchial epithelium begins - cough begins, signs of intoxication appear. The incubation period is 2-3 days, after which the disease passes into the active stage.
Important!Particular danger of pneumonia is during pregnancy. In the early stages of the disease can cause fetal pathologies. In the third trimester, the disease does not pose a threat to the baby, but it is very dangerous for a woman, since immunity in pregnant women is very weak.
Often pneumonia is masked for influenza or a common cold, which greatly complicates the diagnosis, the symptoms are not always pronounced clearly. How is pneumonia diagnosed? The main symptom is a cough. In the initial phase of the disease, it is dry, obtrusive. As the inflammatory process develops, sputum begins to depart, the color of which depends on the type of infection.
The first symptoms are:
- cough, runny nose;
- increase in temperature, relief does not occur after taking antipyretics;
- shortness of breath, a constant sense of lack of oxygen;
- on the background of intoxication, weakness develops, the person quickly becomes tired, the appetite disappears;
- the skin becomes pale;
- trembling of the voice.
The temperature of pneumonia rises sharply to 40 degrees, does not respond to antipyretic agents, during the day its fluctuations can reach 1.5 degrees. The temperature lasts up to 10 days, with treatment in a hospital - up to 4 days.
It is dangerous if the inflammation of the lungs runs without temperature - a person perceives a serious illness as a common cold - the disease flows into a chronic form, irreversible processes in the respiratory organs begin to develop.
Symptoms of the disease depending on the type of pneumonia
The clinical picture of pneumonia depends on the type of infection, the age of the patient, the presence of concomitant chronic diseases.
The main types of pneumonia:
- focal - affects 1-3 alveoli, inflammation spreads in a small area of the lung;
- segmental - pathologically the processes affect several segments of the lung;
- share - affects the whole pulmonary lobe;
- total - the inflammatory process covers the entire entire respiratory organ.
Croupous pneumonia is a dangerous fraction of the pathology in which one or two-sided pneumonia is diagnosed. Right-sided pneumonia is diagnosed more often, since the right bronchus is shorter and wider than the left one.
The disease is characterized by a sharp increase in temperature, there is a pain syndrome on one side of the chest, which increases during inspiration, coughing. Distinctive feature - on the neck there are red spots on the side of the affected respiratory organ, the lips acquire a cyanotic shade, the edema of the nasolabial triangle develops.
When croupous pneumonia appears barking cough, after a few days begins to depart sputum brown with impurities of blood. Against the backdrop of severe intoxication, a person begins to rave, loss of consciousness is possible.
Atypical pneumonia is an inflammation in which the symptoms go without temperature. The cause of the disease is the defeat of the respiratory system by viruses. Antimicrobial medicines are used for treatment, the incubation period is 3-10 days.
Atypical inflammation is accompanied by a muscle and headache, a sore throat, exhausting with a dry cough. The main danger of latent inflammation is late diagnosis, in 5% of cases, cardiopulmonary insufficiency develops, which leads to death of the patient.
Important!Pneumonia is viral and bacterial. With bacterial form, the temperature rises sharply above the 40-degree mark, it lasts 2-4 days. If the indicators vary greatly during the day, it is viral pneumonia.
Chronic pneumonia is the result of an untreated inflammation. It is characterized by a moist cough, phlegm, impurities of pus, frequent heart rhythm, severe shortness of breath. There may be foci of inflammation in the mouth, nasopharynx, a person sweats heavily at night.
Hospital pneumonia is the most severe form of the disease, resulting in a fatal outcome in 50% of cases. It develops on the background of artificial ventilation, after operations, severe diseases and weakened immunity. Treatment of a house of such inflammation is impossible.
Diagnostics
If you suspect a pneumonia, you need to know - how to determine the inflammation of the lungs? First, you should call a doctor, after a thorough listening, examination and collection of anamnesis, the patient is recommended to undergo a comprehensive examination.
The main type of diagnosis - X-ray of the lungs. In the picture, inflammation foci, their number, location and size will be visible.
Laboratory diagnostic methods:
- a clinical blood test - with it determine the type of causative agent of the disease;
- general and bacteriological analysis of sputum - allows you to see the type of infection, exclude the presence of tuberculosis;
- PCR diagnostics - the analysis is carried out with suspicion of the presence of chlamydia and mycoplasma in the respiratory system.
Important!Complications of pneumonia - pulmonary edema, abscesses, psychosis, pneumothorax.
How to treat pneumonia
The main method of treating pneumonia is antibacterial drugs. To treat inflammation of the lungs, antibiotics of a wide spectrum of action are used: Cefazolin, Ceftriaxone, Augmentin.
In case of viral pneumonia, which has appeared against the background of influenza, adenovirus is additionally using antiviral drugs - Arbidol, Acyclovir.
Important!The penicillin group of antibiotics is not effective in the treatment of pneumonia - most bacteria and viruses are resistant to this drug.
Additional therapies:
- Physiotherapy, ultraviolet irradiation;
- home methods of treatment and folk remedies;
- dietary food.
To speed up the healing process, you need to eat right, drink at least 2 liters of clean water a day. Diet in pneumonia involves reducing the load on the digestive tract, strengthening immunity. In the diet should be many products that contain ascorbic acid, vitamin A, B, calcium.
You should minimize the consumption of fat, salt, carbohydrates. To eat should be divided, all food should be steam, boiled, baked.
Folk methods
Treatment with folk remedies implies the use of medicinal herbs and plants that help to eliminate inflammation and pain syndrome, dilate blood vessels and bronchi.
- Garlic is used for obstructive syndrome (narrowing of the bronchi). You can make a homemade garlic inhaler - in a plastic cup to do a few small holes, put the ground shredded garlic cloves, inhale the pairs mouth and nose. At night, you can leave the inhaler in the bedroom to disinfect the air.
- To get rid of cough, you need to grind 50 g of plantain leaves into a powder, shift with an equal amount of liquid honey. Take 15 grams of medication for 20 minutes before each meal.
- In the fight against signs of intoxication help infusion mother-and-stepmother - brew 220 ml of boiling water 10 g of grass, leave for half an hour in a closed container. Take 50 ml three times a day.
Inflammation of the lungs can cause serious pathologies, in some cases a fatal outcome is possible. The best prevention - timely vaccination against influenza - vaccination should definitely be done for children, the elderly, if there is a history of severe chronic diseases.
