Symptoms
The possible symptoms of pneumonia include:
- Cough with sputum
- Fever, chills
- Headache
- Chest pain, pain when breathing
- Poor general condition: fatigue, weakness, feeling sick, confusion.
- Gastrointestinal disturbances such as nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite.
- Shortness of breath, cyanosis, difficulty breathing, increased respiratory rate.
- Blood pressure and pulse changes
It should be noted that pneumonia can also manifest itself uncharacteristically, for example, without cough, sputum and fever. Possible complications are sepsis, respiratory failure, pleural effusion and lung abscess. Other organs may be affected by the pathogen. Pneumonia can be fatal and is one of the leading causes of death worldwide.
Causes
Infectious pneumonia can be caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. Frequently, pneumonia is caused by bacteria such as and . Possible pathogens include (au choice): bacteria:
- (Chlamydia)
- (parrot disease)
- (Q fever)
- (hemophilus)
- (Mycoplasma)
- (Legionella)
- (Pseudomonads)
- (staphylococci)
- (Pneumococcus)
Viruses:
- Adenoviruses
- Human metapneumovirus
- (influenza)
- Measles virus (measles)
- MERS virus (MERS)
- (RSV)
- Rhinoviruses
- SARS-CoV (SARS)
- (chickenpox)
Pneumonia can also be caused by two or more pathogens at the same time, for example, viruses and bacteria. Various factors increase the risk of contracting pneumonia. These include, for example, age (infants, young children, and the elderly), immunosuppression (e.g., HIV, medications), smoking, alcoholism, underlying diseases, lung disease (e.g., COPD), and hospitalization. This article refers to infectious pneumonia. Pneumonia can also be caused by chemicals, gases, irritants, and radiation therapy, or can occur after aspiration.
Transmission
Transmission depends on the pathogen. For example, the microorganisms can be passed during coughing with excreted droplets, during physical contact, or through contaminated surfaces or objects.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis is made by medical treatment based on patient history, clinical symptoms, laboratory methods, pathogen detection, and imaging methods (e.g., chest x-ray, CT scan), among others. Various other respiratory diseases such as bronchitis, asthma, COPD, heart disease, or lung cancer must be excluded by differential diagnosis.
Nonpharmacologic treatment
- Bed rest, drink enough fluids
- Increase the humidity
- Stop smoking
- Good hygiene
- Inhalations
- Respiratory therapy
Drug treatment
Depending on the symptoms and the patient, hospitalization may be indicated. Antibiotics such as penicillins, cephalosporins, macrolides, tetracyclines, and quinolones are used to treat pneumonia caused by bacteria. Increasing resistance is a problem. Therapy is often empiric, i.e., the causative pathogen is not identified. Neuraminidase inhibitors such as oseltamivir (Tamiflu) may be given to treat influenza virus infection. Pain relievers, such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen, may be taken for the pain and fever. Oxygen is administered because breathing and gas exhalation in alveoli is impaired. Cough medications such as expectorants or antitussives for symptomatic treatment of cough. Antifungals are given for fungal infection.
Drug prevention
Various vaccines are available for drug prevention, for example, the influenza vaccine and the pneumococcal vaccine.
