Introduction
Pneumonia is the inflammation of the alveoli and/or the lung tissue surrounding the alveoli. A typical pneumonia is usually caused by bacteria. Classical symptoms are an abrupt onset with a sudden feeling of illness, high fever and cough with sputum.
The therapy depends on the type of pneumonia. Mild forms of the disease can also be treated on an outpatient basis. However, older people and those with a weakened immune system are particularly at risk of developing severe forms of the disease that require hospital treatment.
How to treat pneumonia
The therapy depends on the type of pneumonia and its severity. First, a medical score is used to decide whether hospital treatment is necessary. Among other things, the patient’s age, breathing rate and blood pressure are taken into account.
Both inpatients and outpatients should take it easy on their bodies and drink a lot. Since pneumonia is usually caused by bacteria, antibiotic therapy is used. Depending on the severity of the disease and the type of pathogen, one or more antibiotics can be administered in tablet form or via the vein. In addition, drugs are used to reduce fever, relieve pain, dissolve mucus or to stop coughing.
These drugs are used
Depending on the type of pneumonia, different drugs are used. Since the disease is mostly caused by bacteria, antibiotic therapy is often carried out with the help of a broad-spectrum antibiotic even before the exact pathogens are known. Inflammations caused by viruses cannot usually be treated causally.
Here the symptom relief is particularly important. Fungi and parasites can also cause pneumonia, especially in immunocompromised people. These often difficult forms can be treated with special medication.
In addition to the targeted control of the respective pathogen, therapy is also used to alleviate the symptoms. High fever usually causes a distinct feeling of illness. It can be reduced with fever-reducing medication.
These include above all ibuprofen and paracetamol. Solid mucus should be liquefied with cough expectorants to make it easier to expectorate. Herbal remedies, which are also available without a prescription from a pharmacy, are often suitable for this purpose.
Antibiotics belong with bacterially caused pneumonia to the therapy of the first choice. Frequently an antibiotic is prescribed in principle with the diagnosis pneumonia, without paying attention to the admittingness of the pathogen. This is because bacterial pneumonia can often lead to more severe progressions, especially in older and weakened people, than those caused by other pathogens.
If another pathogen is identified in the course of therapy, the therapy can still be changed. When choosing the appropriate antibiotic, the doctor pays particular attention to the patient’s age and previous illnesses: Young, otherwise healthy patients are usually treated with so-called macrolide antibiotics (e.g. azithromycin, clarithromycin). Old, weakened patients, on the other hand, are more likely to receive drugs from the group of beta-lactams (e.g. cephalosporin antibiotics or amoxicillin).
In addition, pneumonia can be classified according to the type of acquisition: There are pneumonia cases that were acquired on an outpatient basis, i.e. outside of hospital and nursing home, and those that were acquired only in hospital or nursing home. There are also differences in treatment between these two groups. This is because different, sometimes resistant, bacteria are often present in the hospital than outside.
In any case, the success of therapy should be checked a few days after the start of treatment. If the patient’s condition has worsened, young, healthy patients should now also be admitted to hospital. If the condition of the patient remains unchanged, it is possible to switch to another antibiotic in individual cases.
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