Pneumonia symptoms first signs

What are the first signs of pneumonia in an adult

Pneumonia (pneumonia) can develop in different ways, depending on many factors: the type of pathogen, the way it enters the lungs, the individual characteristics of the body.

Often a person with pneumonia does not even suspect that he has health problems and does not consult a doctor, hoping to be cured by domestic methods. As a result, health can be severely damaged. Therefore it is important to know what are the symptoms of pneumonia, especially at the very beginning of the disease, in order to start treatment as soon as possible.

Classic signs of beginning pneumonia

In most cases, the onset of pneumonia is manifested by symptoms such as coughing, runny nose, sneezing. Then there comes a rise in temperature and a breakdown - fatigue, fatigue. After a while these symptoms can be supplemented with shortness of breath, a feeling of lack of air. Often also about the beginning of pneumonia is evidence of a strong sweating, which can not be explained by objective reasons (hot weather, high physical loads, etc.). At such signs it is necessary to address to the doctor and pass or take place inspection which includes a roentgen of lungs, and in different projections.

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Symptoms of developing pneumonia

However, pneumonia may be accompanied by other symptoms. For example, it often develops as a complication against the background of influenza. Then her symptoms are: pain ("aches") in the joints and muscles, headache, severe weakness in the body. Runny nose and sneezing, as a rule, no. Cough causes pain in the chest, often with sputum. With such symptoms, you should immediately consult a doctor and do not refuse hospitalization if it is offered.

If the pathogen causing pneumonia is bacteria of the genus "legionella", the initial symptoms are: lethargy, weakness, sore throat. Often the onset of the disease is accompanied by severe diarrhea.

With pneumonia caused by a particular kind of microorganisms - mycoplasmas, the first signs of the disease are: general weakness (though, in most cases cases, insignificant), headache, perspiration in the throat, as well as a prolonged cough - at first dry, and then with sputum discharge. There is swelling of the nasopharynx, bronchitis can develop. Body temperature is increased slightly. But on the 5th-7th day of the disease, it can reach 39-40oC. To knock down a heat of a body in house conditions at times it is very complex or difficult.

In any case, to put the correct diagnosis and prescribe the treatment can only the doctor. Therefore, it is better not to risk and seek medical advice.

KakProsto.ru

Symptoms of pneumonia in adults

Pneumonia is an infectious disease. It remains one of the most common in the world. It is the leader among nosocomial infections leading to death. It is important to know the symptoms of pneumonia in adults in order to take timely action. Treatment of pneumonia and the prognosis of the development of the disease depends on the nature of the infection, age and general condition of the patient.

What is pneumonia and how dangerous it is

Inflammation of the lungs in an acute form is called pneumonia. It is caused by infections that can be transmitted in various ways, affecting the lung tissue. In the list of diseases that caused death, she is in fifth place, and medicine does not always help. Lethal outcome among adults from pneumonia is 10-33%. Intrahospital and atypical form of the disease takes even more lives - the risk of dying increases to 50%. In elderly people, people with weakened immunity, the prognosis of pneumonia is often disappointing.

From usual pneumonia, 1-3% of young patients who do not have diseases that die, can die. Among elderly patients, the mortality rate is up to 40-50%. Causes of death from pneumonia:

Concomitant diseases, such as cardiac pathologies, existing respiratory diseases (such as bronchitis), diabetes mellitus, problems in the genitourinary system;
bad habits (smoking, especially lengthy experience, drug addiction, alcoholism);
dysfunctional living conditions;
weakened immunity.

A special risk of inflammation of the lungs is for pregnant women. The disease itself is heavy due to dangerous pathologies. For a woman who carries a child, she is doubly dangerous - for the future mother and fetus. In early terms, pneumonia is threatened by an embryo, the tissues and organs of which are not yet formed. In the last trimester for a child, pneumonia is less dangerous than for a mother. Prevention is simple: strengthening the immune system of the mother.

The first signs of pneumonia

Symptoms of pneumonia in adults depend on the type of infection that caused the disease. There are several types of pneumonia, and each has its own clinical picture. The provoking factor for the onset of pneumonia is hypothermia affecting the upper respiratory tract. In the elderly, it often goes into a pathological form. Symptoms of pneumonia in adults are several: they are divided into varieties of insidious disease. The common form of pneumonia is viral, occurs in half the cases. Other reasons:

bacteria;
mycoplasma;
fungus;
parasites;
chlamydia;
streptococcus.

Atypical

A disease that occurs without symptoms characteristic of pneumonia is called atypical. The latent inflammation of the lungs is dangerous because it is delayed for its treatment, when many complications appear. Pulmonary manifestations fade into the background, the patient is more concerned about general intoxication. The X-ray does not show changes in the airway. Signs of atypical inflammation:

dry cough;
sore throat;
muscle pain;
headache;
weakness.

Aseptic atypical pneumonia is caused by Legionella, viruses, chlamydia, mycoplasmas, therefore, it is treated with antimicrobials. After infection, the symptoms of the disease manifest themselves in a period of 2 to 10 days. Changes in the lungs begin later than with a typical pneumonia. The temperature rises, the patient starts to suffocate, he does not have enough air. A large percentage of patients can be cured at home, but sometimes the ailment is difficult. The mortality from this type of disease is 3-5%, the cause is cardiopulmonary insufficiency.

Viral

This type of disease is caused by several viruses. In the first place - the flu. At the onset of pneumonia, triggered by the influenza virus, malaise is noticeable during 3-5 days. Then the condition worsens, shortness of breath starts, chest pains appear. Pneumonia is treated with rimantadine, zanamivir, oseltamivir. Viral pneumonia is caused by cytomegalovirus.

Serious complication of viral pneumonia is SARS, respiratory syndrome. It is caused by the viruses of Paramyxoviridae (they are also the cause of measles and mumps). The syndrome poses a great danger. Symptoms of pneumonia in adults with viral pneumonia are:

very high temperature accompanied by chills;
dry cough (unproductive);
headache and muscle pain;
fatigue without reason.

Bacterial

The cause of pneumonia in this case are bacteria: pneumococcus, staphylococcus, streptococcus. Bacterial pneumonia begins with a sharp temperature jump to a mark of 41 degrees. It lasts up to 3 days, and this symptom is considered a clear sign of bacterial infection. If the temperature then falls, then rises - this is a viral picture. Pneumococcal pneumonia is accompanied by the escape of "rusty" sputum, cardiac contractions become more frequent (tachycardia), breathing becomes more difficult. Treat the disease with antibiotics.

Grybkovoy

The most dangerous variant of pulmonary inflammation is fungal infection. It is due to the fact that fungal pneumonia is not manifested at first, and people do not know that they are sick. The disease is diagnosed late. The onset of the process of inflammation of the lung tissue is like atypical pneumonia, but with the exacerbation of symptoms, the nature of lung damage changes, cavities are formed. A frequent causative agent of such pneumonia is Candida albicans, a fungus. Initially, the patient has catarrhal symptoms: fever, cough, fatigue and shortness of breath. Then, when pussy is pus, then the correct diagnosis is made.

The main symptoms of pneumonia in an adult

The cold, the flu, should not last more than 7 days, if in 4-7 days after the onset of an acute respiratory infection the condition of the patient worsened, this signal starts in the lower respiratory tract of a dangerous inflammation. Symptoms of pneumonia in adults include pallor and dyspnea. If they have a cold, they are accompanied by weakness, sweating, decreased appetite - this is typical for intoxication in the beginning of pneumonia.

Temperature with pneumonia

Attypical pneumonia, body temperature is not always greater than 37.5. In the usual cases, a sharp increase to 40 degrees is typical. With pneumonia, antipyretic drugs do not work. If you can not bring down the temperature - it's a sign of pneumonia. The temperature begins to drop when antibiotics work. It is dangerous if the disease runs without temperature: the patients sometimes do not take measures until the condition worsens. How much the temperature lasts depends on the pathogen: a fungus, a bacterium or a virus.

What a cough with pneumonia

Symptom of pneumonia is a debilitating cough

At the beginning of the disease, a cough is dry, this is called unproductive. He becomes obtrusive, constant, exhausting. Inflammation develops - this symptom also changes. The sputum departs, the color of which depends on the nature of the infection: yellow-green, purulent, "rusty." Nasal cough, which does not pass for 7-10 days, is a clear sign of the inflammatory process in the lungs.

Voice tremor

The doctor can recognize the symptoms of the disease, assessing the patient's jittery response. The patient says words where there are several "p" sounds, and the doctor puts his hands on his chest, and determines the voice trembling. With pneumonia, part of the lung, or it is whole, becomes denser. This will be noticed by the medical doctor who conducts the diagnostics, by the fact that the voice tremor is amplified.

Diagnosis of the disease

If there is a suspicion of an inflammatory process in the lungs, a comprehensive diagnosis is performed. Sometimes already at the primary admission the doctor can determine the disease by conducting an auscultation, that is, having listened to the chest with a phonendoscope. But the main method of diagnosis in an adult is an X-ray. Necessarily the patient will take blood for general and biochemical analysis. If the patient is in the hospital, examine the culture of sputum, urine, check blood for antibodies to viruses.

Types of pneumonia

The mild forms of pneumonia, found in the initial stage, are treated at home. Remember that even mild pneumonia will complicate with improper care. It is necessary to adhere to the doctor's recommendations how to treat pneumonia in the home:

antipyretic drugs, anti-inflammatory;
an abundant drink is prescribed;
an important component of the treatment is a diet: the body is poisoned by toxins, light foods, more fluids are required.

How to treat pneumonia, how long the process will last depends on the severity and variety of the disease. Infection is sometimes found in the lung tissue for years, leading to a chronic illness. Fibers and connective tissues are damaged, they press on the pulmonary vesicles, which leads to hardening of the lungs, pneumosclerosis. The patient feels discomfort, constantly coughs. It is a slow, prolonged illness, which gradually leads to complications.

Conventional pneumonia is divided into mild, moderate, severe and extremely severe in severity, it depends on how the disease proceeds. Severe acute forms include pleuropneumonia, when one or more of the lungs are inflamed. There is pneumonia in the localization:

Focal (concentrated in the focus of inflammation);
segmental or polysegmentary, depending on whether one or more segments are located;
share - does not exceed one share;
total - covers all the lungs.

One-sided and two-sided

The inflammatory process is concentrated either on one side or it is bilateral. Unilateral pneumonia is divided into two types:

Right-sided - occurs more often, the right bronchus is wider than the left and shorter than it, the infection penetrates there freer.
Left-sided - develops less often, with it there are stagnant processes in the lung.

Two-sided covers both lungs: all lung tissue becomes inflamed, and the disease is provoked by bacteria (pneumococcus, hemophilic rod). Against the background of one infection, other harmful microorganisms are multiplied, mixed-infection develops. In the fight against a person enter several pathogens, to select antibacterial drugs for treatment is difficult.

Basal

The focus of inflammation, located along the root of the lung, is difficult to diagnose. Such cases are called basal pneumonia. In the diagnosis of computed tomography. The doctor should exclude tuberculosis and lung cancer, the focus of inflammation is similar to a picture on a tumor. Tuberculin tests are carried out. If you mistakenly prescribe drugs against tuberculosis, but they do not give an effect - this is considered a diagnostic sign.

Bronchopneumonia

Bronchial pneumonia characterizes the lesion of small branches of the bronchial tree of the patient. Bronchopneumonia refers to focal. The process of recovery will take a long time. Sometimes the disease is secondary, develops against the background of bronchitis. A person tries to cure bronchitis, that is prolonged, the condition worsens, weakness appears, temperature jumps. The cough that accompanies bronchitis intensifies, unpleasant purulent sputum is separated, at times - with veins of blood.

Important symptoms of this disease: shortness of breath, increased heart rate to 110 strokes for a minute, chest pain. To the development of bronchopneumonia leads not only bronchitis, but also ARVI. Often this type of pneumonia and viruses cause this kind of pneumonia, in order to treat the disease correctly, establish a pathogen, prescribe antiviral drugs or antibacterial. How much the disease is treated depends on the type of pathogen.

Hospital

In addition to community-acquired pneumonia, which develops under normal conditions, there is a serious form of illness - hospital, it is also hospital-acquired. The diagnosis is made when the inflammation appears after two days and more after placing a person in a hospital clinic with a completely different diagnosis. This is the most ruthless species, killing 50% of patients. The disease is caused by microorganisms. Types of nosocomial pneumonia:

associated with artificial ventilation;
postoperative;
Hospital-acquired pneumonia in hospitalized in serious condition.

Immunity of patients is weakened, the body struggled with another disease, was not ready to invade new microbes. To save the situation, patients are placed with droppers, use intravenous nutrition to maintain the vital forces of the body, use drugs of a new generation, potent drugs. Cure nosocomial pneumonia can not always. Treatment of pneumonia in this case is excluded.

The equity

Fracture pneumonia affects the lobe of the lung and the pleura. With this type of pneumonia, it is important to schedule injections of antibiotics, the duration of which is determined by the doctor. Applied physiotherapy, detoxification. Partial pneumonia begins suddenly and sharply. There are three forms of the disease:

Upper-lobar - it is difficult, with neurological disorders;
lower-lobed - gives a pseudo-picture of the "acute abdomen", which confuses during diagnosis, chills and "rusty" sputum are characteristic;
central - inflammation develops deep in the lung, symptomatology is poorly defined, difficult to define.

Croupous

Croupous pneumonia proceeds acutely. The nature of the defeat of the lungs is bilateral. If the pathology is not recognized and the treatment is not started quickly, the patient will die from cerebral hypoxia and cardiovascular insufficiency. The first day the patient has a dry cough. The next day, sputum is rusty, vomiting occurs. On the third day, it becomes worse, dyspnea appears, tachycardia develops. The patient is not able to climb to one floor. Treat croupous pneumonia in pulmonology, in a hospital or resuscitation. Pulmonary lobes of the patient are totally affected on both sides.

Video: types and symptoms of pneumonia

Pneumonia is a dangerous disease, it is important to determine it in the early stages, when the treatment is effective even with folk remedies at home. In the video offered below, experts will tell in detail about the symptoms of pneumonia, teach what to look for if pneumonia occurs without the typical symptoms. Timely detection will avoid irreversible consequences.

sovets.net

All symptoms of pneumonia

Inflammation of the lungs or, as it is also called, pneumonia is a disease of an infectious nature, it occurs in both adults and young children. Its pathogens can be various bacteria, parasites, viruses, fungi and so on.

Pneumonia can develop as a complication of some illness of the upper respiratory tract, as a result of hypothermia, trauma and so on. As a rule, the symptoms of the disease appear immediately, from the first days of the illness.

Common signs of pneumonia

Usually it is not difficult for doctors to recognize pneumonia, because its symptoms are very clear. The patient has a temperature increase sometimes to significant digits - 39-40 degrees. Simultaneously with this sign, there is a pronounced chill and sweating. Also the first symptoms of this terrible disease include the phenomena of general intoxication. Patients complain of severe headaches, vomiting, nausea, lethargy and loss of appetite.

On examination, you can see that the patient's face is hyperemic, and the blush may be more pronounced on the side where the affected lung is. Very often on the lips appear herpes rashes in the form of vesicles. On the background of dyspnea, which can be 30-40 respiratory movements per minute, cyanosis of the lips may occur. Also, signs of pneumonia include a slight decrease in blood pressure and tachycardia (up to 100 beats per minute).

Often, this lung disease is accompanied by conjunctivitis, that is, inflammation of the mucous membranes of the eyes. And in some cases, the symptoms of this pathology include also icterism, that is, icteric staining of mucous membranes and skin. It is caused by the destruction of erythrocytes in that lobe of the lungs, where the pathological process is localized, liver dystrophy occurs, blood levels of bilirubin increase.

Often the first signs allowing the doctor to suspect the patient of this disease is the occurrence of muscle aches and joints against the background of fever, which are often localized in the chest and upper abdomen. It happens also against the background of a significant increase in temperature, confusion, hallucinations and delirium may occur, and psychosis may develop. All these symptoms should alert the doctor, because pneumonia is a very serious disease, fraught with the development of a number of complications. In order to establish an accurate diagnosis, fluorography, blood and sputum analysis, as well as examination of the function of external respiration.

Pulmonary signs of pneumonia

With such a lung disease as pneumonia, a number of specific symptoms arise, and along with an increase temperature, a cough appears, at first it is dry and painful, and then it becomes wet. Sputum can be a rusty shade due to the fact that it contains an admixture of red blood cells. Sometimes blood sprouts may appear in the sputum, and at times it may be all stained with blood.

On the side where the inflammatory process is localized, there is pain, which is intensified during coughing and deep breathing. Often because of unpleasant feelings a person takes a compulsory position: lies on his side, on the side where inflammation in the lungs. Also, a doctor who knows how inflammation of the lungs manifests will necessarily pay attention to the lag of the affected side of the chest during breathing.

During an objective examination, along with an increase in temperature, percussion the doctor will detect a shortening of percussion sound over the zone of pneumonia. During auscultation, one can hear breathing with a bronchial tinge; in the lungs, small bubble wet crepitic wheezing occurs early. All these signs indicate that the patient needs to conduct a study such as fluorography, that is, to do an x-ray of the lungs. During the period of illness the patient is contagious, so it must be isolated from others, including children.

Focal pneumonia, which usually occurs in patients who have chronic bronchial or cardiovascular disease, the signs usually do not have very pronounced. There is a rise in temperature to 38.5 degrees, when a cough appears mucopurulent sputum, the patient can complain of pain in the chest. At auscultation, crepitating rales in the lungs are heard.

Features of pneumonia in old age

If this severe lung disease has occurred in the elderly, then it is not so easy to recognize it. The disease is manifested by a slight rise in temperature, pain in the chest area with deep breathing, lack of appetite and growing weakness.

Often, patients already in the first days of illness are so weak that they can not get out of bed. Upon examination, the doctor can detect other symptoms of the disease, such as severe shortness of breath, severe tachycardia, dry tongue and a bright blush on one of the cheeks. With auscultation you can hear wet rattles.

In elderly people with severe cardiovascular pathology, septic shock and pulmonary edema can develop. A harbinger of shock is a strong tachycardia. Then there is a sharp weakness, there may be a decrease in temperature, the skin becomes gray, there is a pronounced cyanosis, dyspnea increases, the pressure drops below the 90/60 mark.

A person develops acute heart failure and develops pulmonary edema, so he needs urgent treatment. Doctors, at the first suspicion of this dangerous disease should send the elderly person for examination, and if necessary - and hospitalize.

Features of pneumonia in childhood

Even small children may develop pneumonia, so their parents should closely monitor their health and recognize the symptoms of pneumonia in children at the proper time. The disease usually begins acutely: children are fevered up to 39 degrees, there is shortness of breath (if the baby is less two months, the frequency of respiratory movements in him can reach 60), cyanosis in the nasolabial triangle. Also, children have weakness, they become apathetic and refuse to eat. Diagnosing this disease in children is not so easy, but if it is not done in time serious complications can develop.

In older children, the disease usually occurs in the same way as in adults. In this case, children have fever, there is a cough with phlegm and pains in the chest. The behavior of children also changes: they can become capricious, sluggish, irritable.

Chronic pneumonia

The chronic form of this disease develops as a result of unresolved acute pneumonia. It can occur in both adults and children. During the exacerbation, sweating and general weakness are observed, the temperature rises. There is also a cough with mucopurulent sputum, and sometimes pain in the chest.

With a bronchoectatic form of the disease, the patient can have hemoptysis, changes in fingernails and phalanges of the fingers (like "watch glass" and "drum sticks"), loss of appetite and weight loss. Above the focus of inflammation at auscultation, small bubbles, and sometimes even medium bubbling rales, can be heard, and bronchoconstriction reveals the presence of bronchiectasis. This form of pneumonia in both children and adults often leads to complications, such as spontaneous pneumothorax, pleural empyema and amyloidosis of the kidneys.

Such a pathology as pneumonia requires compulsory treatment in a pulmonary physician. After all, this serious disease can lead to a number of serious, deadly complications.

ingalin.ru

Symptoms of pneumonia in children

Pneumonia in a child is an acute infectious disease that occurs with inflammation of the respiratory parts of the lungs. The disease is accompanied by the accumulation of inflammatory fluid in the pulmonary vesicles-alveoli. Symptoms of pneumonia in children are similar to those in adults, but are supplemented by severe fever and intoxication.

The term "acute pneumonia in children" is out of use in medicine, because the very definition of the disease includes a characterization of an acute process. The International Council of Scientists-Experts decided to divide pneumonia into groups according to other signs that determine the outcome of the disease.

How dangerous is pneumonia?

Despite the progress in medicine, the incidence of lung inflammation in children remains high. Pneumonia is a life-threatening, life-threatening condition. Infant mortality from pneumonia remains high enough. In the Russian Federation, pneumonia> up to , 00 children dies within a year. Basically, this terrible number unites infants who died from pneumonia in the age of 1 year.

The main causes of the fatal outcome of pneumonia in children:

Later, parents applied for medical help.
Later, the diagnosis and delay of the correct treatment.
Presence of concomitant chronic diseases that worsen the prognosis.

In order to timely establish an accurate diagnosis and take measures to treat a dangerous disease, you need to know its external signs - symptoms.

The main symptoms of pneumonia in children:

Fever - increase in body temperature to high digits (> 38 ° C).
Dyspnoea - increased frequency of respiration more than 40 per minute (in children 1-6 years).
Cough dry or with phlegm.
Appearance of cyanotic coloring of the skin of the lips, nasolabial area, fingertips.
Changes in respiratory noise in the lungs during listening (wheezing, hard breathing).
Intoxication, expressed general weakness, refusal to eat.

The increase in body temperature in a child is the first symptom of many diseases, for example, a common viral infection (ARI). In order to recognize pneumonia, we must remember: an important role is played not by the height of the fever, but by its duration. For microbial inflammation of the lungs it is characteristic continuation of fever for more than 3 days against the background of competent treatment of a viral infection.

If we evaluate the significance of the symptoms for the diagnosis of pneumonia in children, the most terrible sign will be the appearance of dyspnea. Shortness of breath and tension of additional muscles are more important signs than having wheezing when listening to the chest.

Cough is a symptom of pneumonia in children. In the early days of the disease, cough can be dry. With the resolution of acute inflammation of the lung tissue, the cough will become productive, moist.

If a child with a respiratory viral infection (ARI) has similar symptoms, an urgent call for a doctor is necessary. Underestimation of the severity of the baby's condition can lead to sad consequences - the development of acute respiratory failure and death from pneumonia.

The doctor will examine the small patient, prescribe an examination and an effective treatment. Listening to the lungs in the early days of the disease may not reveal characteristic signs of inflammation. The presence of disseminated wheezing when listening is often a symptom of bronchitis. To clarify the diagnosis for suspected pneumonia, an X-ray of the lungs is necessary. X-ray symptoms of pneumonia are darkening (infiltration) of pulmonary fields, which confirms the diagnosis.

Laboratory Symptoms of Pneumonia

Valuable information about the fact of inflammation in the body carries a general blood test. Signs that increase the presence of pneumonia: a high content of white blood cells in 1 cu. mm blood (more than 15 thousand) and an increase in ESR. ESR is the sedimentation rate of red blood cells. This analysis reflects the amount of inflammatory metabolic products in the liquid part of the blood. The magnitude of ESR shows the intensity of any inflammation processes, including inflammation of the lungs.

How to determine the risk of a child with pneumonia?

The following factors are identified that increase the risk of lung inflammation in children:

Delayed physical and mental development of the child.
Low weight of a newborn baby.
Artificial feeding of a baby under the age of 1 year.
Refusal of vaccination against measles.
Pollution of air (passive smoking).
Overcrowded dwelling, where the baby lives.
Smoking of parents, including mother's smoking during pregnancy.
Lack of microelement of zinc in the diet.
Mother's inability to care for an infant.
Presence of concomitant diseases (bronchial asthma, heart disease or digestive system).

What forms can the disease have?

Pneumonia in children is different for reasons and mechanism of occurrence. The disease can affect the entire lobe of the lung - this is a shared pneumonia. If the inflammation occupies a part of the lobe (segment) or several segments, it is called segmental (polysegmental) pneumonia. If the inflammation is covered by a small group of pulmonary vesicles, this variant of the disease will be called "focal pneumonia".

In inflammation, passed to the respiratory tissue of the bronchi, the disease is sometimes called bronchopneumonia. The process, caused by viruses or intracellular parasites such as chlamydia, is manifested by swelling (infiltration) of the perivascular tissue of the lungs from both sides. This type of disease was called "bilateral interstitial pneumonia." These symptoms of difference can be determined by medical examination and X-ray examination of sick children.

Inflammation of the lungs in children doctors are divided according to the conditions of origin for domestic (out-of-hospital) and hospital (hospital). Separate forms are intrauterine pneumonia in newborns and pneumonia with a pronounced lack of immunity. Community-acquired (home) pneumonia is called inflammation of the lungs, which has arisen in ordinary home conditions. Hospital (nosocomial) pneumonia is a case of illness that occurs after 2 or more days of the child's stay in the hospital for another reason (or within 2 days after discharge from there).

Mechanism of the development of pneumonia

The entry of a microbial pathogens into the respiratory tract can occur in several ways: inhalation, swallowing of nasopharyngeal mucus, dissemination through the blood. This way of introducing a pathogenic microbe depends on its kind.

The most frequent causative agent of the disease is pneumococcus. The microbe enters the lower parts of the lungs by inhaling or swelling of mucus from the nasopharynx. Intracellular parasites, such as mycoplasma, chlamydia and legionella, enter the lungs by inhalation. The spread of infection through the blood is most typical for infection with Staphylococcus aureus.

The type of causative agent that causes pneumonia in children depends on several factors: the age of the child, the place of origin of the disease, and also from the previous treatment with antibiotics. If within 2 months before the present episode the baby has already taken antibiotics, then the causative agent of the current inflammation of the respiratory tract can be atypical. In 30-50% of cases, community-acquired pneumonia in children can be caused by several types of microbes at the same time.

General rules for the treatment of pneumonia in children

Treatment of the disease the doctor begins with the immediate appointment of antimicrobials to any patient with suspected inflammation of the lungs. The place of treatment is determined by the severity of the manifestation of symptoms.

Sometimes with a mild course of the disease in children of older age groups, treatment at home is possible. The decision on the place of treatment is made by the doctor, according to the patient's condition.

Indications for treatment in a hospital of children with pneumonia are: severity of symptoms and a high risk of an unfavorable outcome of the disease:

The age of the child is less than 2 months, regardless of the severity of the symptoms.
The age of the baby is younger than 3 years with lobar pneumonia.
Inflammation of several lobes in a child of any age.
Severe concomitant diseases of the nervous system.
Pneumonia of newborns (intrauterine infection).
The small weight of the baby, the delay of its development in comparison with peers.
Congenital malformations of organs.
Chronic concomitant diseases (bronchial asthma, heart disease, lung, kidney, cancer).
Patients with decreased immunity from various causes.
Impossibility of careful care and accurate performance of all medical appointments at home.

Indications for the urgent placement of a child with pneumonia, in the department of children's intensive care:

Increases in the number of breaths> 60 in 1 min for babies under the age of one year, and for children older than the year, dyspnea> 50 per 1 min.
The retraction of the intercostal spaces and the jugular fossa (fossa at the beginning of the sternum) with respiratory movements.
Moaning breathing and violation of the right rhythm of breathing.
Fever that does not respond to treatment.
Violation of the child's consciousness, the appearance of convulsions or hallucinations.

In uncomplicated course of the disease, body temperature decreases within the first 3 days after initiation of treatment with antibiotics. External symptoms of the disease gradually decrease in intensity. X-ray signs of recovery can be seen in the pictures of the lungs no earlier than 21 days after the start of antibiotic treatment.

In addition to antimicrobial treatment, the patient must comply with bed rest, plenty of drinking. Expectorants are prescribed if necessary.

Prevention of pneumonia

Protection from respiratory viral infection plays an important role in preventing the incidence of pneumonia.

It is possible to carry out vaccination against the main pathogens of pneumonia in children: a hemophilic rod and pneumococcus. At present, safe and effective vaccine-tablets are developed against microbes that cause pneumonia and bronchitis. Preparations from this class "Bronchovax" and "Ribomunil" have a children's dosage. They are appointed by the doctor to prevent such a dangerous disease as pneumonia.