How does pneumonia manifest? Symptoms, causes

Until recently, pneumonia was considered a fatal disease. Before the antibiotics were invented, the inflammation of the lungs ended in a lethal outcome, but recently, when pharmacists offer a wide range of medications, this pathology is cured, and if prompted for qualified help, the therapy passes quickly and without complications. What is this disease, and how does pneumonia manifest?

Inflammation of the lungs - what is this disease?

Inflammation of the lung is not called a separate pathology, but a group of diseases in which the damage of bronchioles and basic respiratory units develops. The latter are carried out in the body oxygen exchange between the lungs and blood. In the alveoli, the inflammatory fluid swells, and as a result, a small portion of the lung ceases to participate in gas exchange.

In addition, it is this area that becomes dangerous, since it is a source of poisoning for the whole organism. As a result, pneumonia is caused by an infectious agent. But to determine the presence of the disease can be after examining the doctor and passing a series of diagnostic studies. Therapy should be prescribed to the patient immediately after the foci of the disease have been identified in his lungs. What causes the disease, and how does pneumonia manifest?

What causes pneumonia?

Any disease never arises from scratch, there are always provoking factors. Inflammation of the lungs is caused by microorganisms, which are infectious agents, these are:

• Pneumococci.
• Friedlander's wand.
• Staphylococci.
• Streptococci.
• Hemophilus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
• Mycoplasmas.
• Proteus.
• Enterobacteria.
• Chlamydia.

But not only bacteria capable of leading to an inflammatory process in the lungs, viruses can also provoke the disease:

• Flu.
• Paragripp.
• Herpes.
• Chickenpox.
• Adenoviruses.
• Respiratory syncytial virus.

But before answering the question of how inflammation of the lungs is manifested in adults, the symptoms that should make the doctor come to know what groups of patients are most susceptible to the disease.

What category of people is more susceptible to ailment?

Most likely, the disease will develop more quickly among people related to people:

• With a weakened immune system.
• Smokers, as they have their own cleansing of the bronchi, because of their addiction.
• Often suffering from stress (the latter depress the immune system).
• With congenital pathologies and malformations of the bronchi and lungs.
• Abusing alcoholic beverages.
• Wrongly eating.
• With chronic pathologies, including heart disease, blood vessels and pyelonephritis.
• Often ill with colds.
• Forced to spend a lot of time in prone position.
• After applying general anesthesia.
• Old men and people of advanced age.

Before you understand how pneumonia is manifested in children, you also need to find out which category of children is more prone to the disease, because they have very different risk factors:

• Frequent diseases of ENT organs.
• Overheating.
• Subcooling.
• Lack of fresh air.
• Lack of sleep.
• Insufficient hardening.
• Visit to children's institutions, where children often get sick.

But how can you identify pneumonia, symptoms? Do children have the same symptoms as adults, or not?

Signs of pneumonia in adults

Symptoms in each person can be different, because it all depends on the etiology, but they are all very similar to the signs of a cold or flu. Therefore, an accurate diagnosis can only be made by a doctor after the examination and the appointment of several types of diagnosis. Pathology can develop both acutely and gradually. But how is pneumonia manifested, what symptoms should make the doctor go to the doctor? Not notice signs of the disease is very difficult:

• High temperature, reaching up to 40 degrees.
• Strong headache.
• Drowsiness.
• Complete lack of appetite.
• Dyspnea.
• Apathy.
• Cough - at first dry, and then it becomes wet.

If the disease is present in the human body for a long time, then when coughing, mucus can emit pus and impurity of blood. Here such signs speak that in an organism of the person there is a disease - an inflammation of lungs. Symptoms in adults without temperature are not very different: aches in the whole body, aching pain in the chest, cough and general weakness.

Pneumonia, if not treated in time, may result in complications, and in some cases, death. If an adult has an illness with only one symptom, then the child is slightly different. But how does the inflammation of the lungs manifest in children? Symptoms in children 8 years and newborns are similar or different?

Symptomatology in children

The child is not able to independently assess their health, so parents should be very careful, and if suddenly notice changes in behavior, then they must determine what the problem is. The main symptom of the disease in a child is a cough. Also adults should be concerned about this condition:

• The child does not eat and does not drink, sluggish.
• Stable keeps the heat, but it is worth remembering that it may not appear in all children.

• The child often breathes, there is shortness of breath.
• The skin becomes pale, and around the lips and nose appears a slightly noticeable blue.

Most often, viral pneumonia begins after SARS, so if the child is unwell, do not self-medicate so as not to miss the development of pathology.

Inflammation of the lungs is also recorded in children who have just been born. But why does pneumonia appear in newborns? The reasons for its appearance?

What provokes the appearance of pneumonia in newborns

Even in the womb of the mother, the baby can become infected with intrauterine pneumonia. Such a disease is most often observed in infants born before the term, since the development of pathology predisposes the immaturity of the respiratory system. Immediately after birth, doctors detect pneumonia in the newborn, the symptoms manifest themselves in the first hours of life. Infectious agents of this infection can become fungi, viruses, streptococci and other microorganisms. The main causes of pathology in infants:

• Postponed by a woman during the carrying of a toddler infectious diseases.
• Presence of an untreated chronic infection.
• The use of future mother steroid drugs.
• Intrauterine hypoxia of the fetus.
• Hereditary lung diseases and other pathologies.

How does pneumonia manifest in children? Symptoms in the baby immediately after birth, if the infection occurred in the womb, appear very quickly, and the doctor who examines the baby, will be able to notice them: a violation of breathing, jaundice, a weak scream and face with a slightly noticeable blue.

After finding such signs, the baby is immediately sent to the intensive care unit and prescribed resuscitation measures that will help cure the disease without consequences for the further development of the baby.

How does pneumonia manifest, symptoms in children who have caught the infection by airborne droplets after they have been discharged from the hospital? Inexperienced parents can skip the disease, so the doctor should warn them what to look for:

• On breathing: if it is difficult, you need to call a doctor.
• Runny nose and shortness of breath.
• Superficial breathing.

All these signs should make parents worried, call a doctor at home or an ambulance if the symptoms have appeared very quickly and immediately all.

How is pneumonia manifested in adults It is already known, but what diagnostic methods will help confirm the diagnosis or disprove it?

Diagnostics tool and laboratory

If the patient turned to the doctor with complaints that are very similar to the symptoms of pneumonia, then first he will be referred for radiography. This method allows you to see even small foci of pathology. Normal listening is not always effective, because you can skip foci, located too deep.

Also, in addition, the patient is assigned laboratory tests, because pneumonia can be lethargic, and foci will not appear on the first day. But how much does pneumonia manifest? In some cases, the disease can show itself immediately, but most often it happens after a flu or ARVI.

Among other studies, the patient is prescribed:

• General analysis of sputum - with his help you can determine what exactly comes out of the bronchi.
• Bacteriological study of sputum - this analysis provides an opportunity to identify which bacterium caused the disease.
• Analyzes of blood and urine - they are necessary to confirm the etiology of pathology.

Also, more complex diagnostic methods can be applied if the doctor can not accurately diagnose or the disease progresses in the body for too long.

Therapeutic methods

Therapy of a patient with pneumonia should be started immediately after the diagnosis was confirmed. The first drugs that are prescribed to the patient are broad-spectrum antibiotics. The doctor appoints them taking into account the patient's condition, it can be such drugs: "Levofloxacin", "Moxifloxacin", "Sumamed" and others. Antibiotics are advised to take at least 7 days, after 3 days the drug can be replaced, if the symptoms do not decrease.

If the disease developed during the flu epidemic, then in this case it is recommended to take interferon preparations, such as Laferon or Viferon.

Also, the patient is prescribed expectorant drugs: "Lazolvan", "ATSTS" or "Ambroxol". When bronhospazme for the expansion of the bronchi recommend to take "Eufillin", "Ventolin" or "Theoephedrine." It is necessary to use inhalers, which will help dilute sputum.

In each case, individual treatment is selected for the patient, depending on his symptoms and the course of the disease. We have already sorted out how to treat pneumonia, symptoms in adults without temperature and with it. Now we need to understand what are the forecasts?

Forecasts of doctors after illness

Treatment gives good results if you start it on time and follow all the doctor's recommendations. In our fast time, when medicine and other industries do not stand still, there are many treatments for even the most neglected cases. It is very dangerous to engage in self-medication if the inflammation of the lungs was caused by the presence of microorganisms, such as staphylococcus, pneumococcus, influenza virus and others.

Also, a particular danger is inflammation of the lungs:

• Children from birth to a year.
• People with aspiration pneumonia.
• Elderly and with a weakened body to patients.
• People with immunodeficiency.
• Patients who applied for qualified care are very late.
• People with extensive lung tissue damage.

But it is necessary to know not only how inflammation of the lungs is manifested in adults and children, but also about what complications are possible after the transferred disease. Complications are very common.

Complications after pneumonia

In adults, pneumonia is treated well and gives good results only if you follow all the doctor's recommendations. Otherwise, if you do not follow the course of treatment and other recommendations, the disease can lead to serious complications, most of them can affect the body for the rest of the patient's life. If the treatment is not completed, the disease will return back in a more complicated form and cause such complications:

1. Chronical bronchitis. This disease most often occurs after severe inflammation of the lungs. This pathology requires the use of antibiotics and expectorants.
2. Bronchial asthma. If it is wrong to treat or not undergo a full course of treatment, the chronic form of bronchitis passes into bronchial asthma over time.
3. Fibrosis of the lung. Severe forms of pneumonia cause damage to the tissues of the organ, after which they are cicatrized and form fibrosis.
4. Weakened immunity. Any pathology adversely affects the immunity of a person, which means that the body can no longer effectively fight against viruses that enter, and as a result - new pathologies.
5. Abscess of the lung. In the lung can accumulate pus, which can be removed can be a special method of pumping. This procedure is very painful and unpleasant.

In order not to lead to complications that are very difficult to cure, you need to consult a doctor at the first symptoms of pneumonia and go through a full course of treatment, following all the doctor's recommendations. Only in this case the therapy will be quick and effective, without any consequences.