Pneumonia: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Pneumonia is an infection of the airspaces in the lungs, and usually it is caused by infections, such as bacterial, viral or fungal infections. Pneumonia can occur in people of all ages, but is mainly prevalent in elderly people because their weakened immune systems make them more susceptible to viruses causing the disease. In the United States, about 50,000 people die a year; usually the victims are children, the elderly and people with chronic diseases. Pneumonia is classified in several different ways, usually based on how the patient acquired the disease, such as community-acquired pneumonia, or hospital acquired pneumonia.

Viral pneumonia is usually caused by the influenza virus, although measles, chickenpox, and other viral infections can cause it as well. Bacterial pneumonia is typically more serious than viral pneumonia, but there is a risk of contracting a secondary case of bacterial pneumonia when already sick from viral pneumonia. Fungal infections causing pneumonia are most common in those with weakened immune systems, such as from having AIDs.

Symptoms of pneumonia include cough, chest pain when breathing, labored breathing, shortness of breath, fever, chills and nausea or diarrhea. Infants may not show typical symptoms, and may instead just seem restless or lethargic. It is common that elderly people with pneumonia show a change in mental status, such as confusion. To diagnose pneumonia, a chest x-ray is used to detect the virus, but it doesn’t tell the organism responsible for the disease. Microbiology tests are performed on blood, sputum, or urine to help identify the cause of the case of pneumonia. In severe cases of pneumonia, or if antibiotics are unable to treat the disease, a Bronchoscopy is performed. A Bronchoscopy is a procedure in which a tube is inserted into the trachea and major airways, allowing the doctor to see into the airways and take tissue samples. Typically, antibiotics are used to treat pneumonia, but if the infection is viral based, medications are typically only given to treat symptoms, as viruses are unaffected by antibiotics and overuse can cause antibodies to develop, and therefore render antibiotics useless in situations where they could treat infections.

In simple language, pneumonia is an infection of lungs. It is a severe ailment that can prevail people of any age but it is most prevalent and most dangerous in infants and people above 65 and to those who are underlying medical complications such as heart disease, diabetes and chronic lung disease. It is more familiar during the winter months. It can cause coughing, wheezing and hacking and can range from mild to severe condition to what is causing the ailment and how normal you are in the general. The most frequent element of pneumonia is viruses and bacteria. When the origin is from bacteria, the sickness can appear either hastily or slowly and inclines to be more severe than other types.