What is Pneumonia?

Pneumonia, the lungs of alveolar emergence of the symptoms of inflammation. Pneumonia can occur in people of any age, but for the young and the elderly, and for those with poor immune deficiency syndrome or the immune system is a high-risk patients. They are more vulnerable to get disease. For others, their body's own immune system have the ability to fight mild infection. The general will prescribe antibiotics to treat. If the condition is serious, can be fatal.

Symptoms of Pneumonia
Common symptoms
     -   Spit : a yellowish green
     -   High fever : the temperature at least 39.5 ° C or 103 ° F
     -  Chills: usually associated with chills (rigors)
     -  Cough : serious when they feel chest pain
     -  Chest pain: was violent or acupuncture-like chest pain sense. Deep breathing or coughing, chest pain, flu is more apparent.
     -  Breathing is shallow and too fast:
     -  Shortness of breath:

    Rare symptoms
    -  Coughing up blood
    -  Headache , including migraine
    -  Excessive sweating and sticky (clammy) skin
    -  Loss of appetite
    -  Too tired
    -  Pale

If you do not treat pneumonia, may result in sepsis and acute respiratory failure syndrome. They are the main cause of death in patients without treatment.


Diagnosis
For the diagnosis of pneumonia, chest X-rays, lung infiltration is the gold standard for the diagnosis of pneumonia diagnosis by sputum or blood of the patient cultivation of microorganisms. When pneumonia is suspected, usually blood tests: complete blood count can show the proliferation of neutrophils in addition to some immunodeficiency or neutropenia, thrombocytopenia patients. If the progression of sepsis, patients with renal function decline. In the determination of ions, usually due to pneumonia, lung tissue, release of anti-urine hormone satisfied ion reduction. Immunodeficiency caused by nosocomial infection or pneumonia, the diagnosis would be more difficult, or even CT scan of the lungs may be required to distinguish between the causes (eg pulmonary embolism) can cause pneumonia. If the patient also other symptoms or discomfort (such as vasculitis, sarcoidosis or lung cancer, etc.), CT scans also with its application.

Pneumonia type
Community-Acquired Pneumonia (the Community-Acquired Pneumonia)

    Epidemiological characteristics: community-acquired pneumonia is a serious disease. In the UK is the fourth largest cause of death in the United States is the sixth leading cause of death. 85% of community-acquired pneumonia causative body is typical of bacteria, including Streptococcus pneumoniae (Streptococcus pneumonia), Haemophilus influenzae (Haemophilus influenzae), Moraxella catarrhalis-type bacteria (Moraxella catarrhalis). The remaining 15% from the so-called atypical pathogenic cause, including Mycoplasma pneumoniae of Mycoplasma pneumonia and Chlamydia pneumoniae (to Chlamydia pneumonia), and Veterans genus of Legionella species. In general, the aerobic Gülen negative bacilli (such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pseudomonas aeruginosa), the stationary bacilli (Actinectobacter), Enterobacter ([Enterobacter)) less cause community-acquired pneumonia.
    Clinical features: typical features include cough, purulent sputum, shortness of breath, pleuritic chest pain, fever and shivering. Can be found on physical examination, a high respiratory rate, heart rate and respiratory solid. In the elderly, the symptoms will become more blurred and less non-specific. The elderly may be associated with headache, anxiety, diarrhea, confusion, falls, and decreased appetite. Chest X-rays are the criteria for a diagnosis. In general, when a patient suspected of having community-acquired pneumonia and pulmonary symptoms, no other organs connected, usually is caused by the typical pathogenic body. Patients with pneumonia and other organs is accompanied by symptoms and laboratory tests may be caused by the atypical causative body.     

Nosocomial Pneumonia (Hospital-acquired pneumonia)
Nosocomial pneumonia, also known as nosocomial pneumonia is a lung infection after hospitalization due to other diseases or treatment. Been identified with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), because the etiology, microbiology, treatment and prognosis are different for different diseases. Hospitalized patients there are many risk factors that cause pneumonia, including ventilator use, long-term malnutrition, potential heart and lung disease, achlorhydria and immune disorders. In addition, the pathogen can not survive in the general environment in the hospital is very lush. These pathogens, including drug-resistant aerobic Gram-negative bacilli such as Pseudomonas , Enterobacter, and Serratia ; Gram-positive bacteria, such as anti-Staphylococcus aureus to methicillin . Due to the presence of risk factors, such as latent infection and drug-resistant strains and nosocomial pneumonia more deadly than community-acquired pneumonia. Antibiotics for the treatment of nosocomial pneumonia, including the aminoglycoside
 class, the fluoroquinolone class of carbon hybrid penem class, and vancomycin . The joint application of a variety of antibiotics can clear before the extent of infection quickly and effectively kill all pathogenic microorganisms. Although the hospital use of antibiotics of different pathogens and their drug-resistant spectrum was similar.

Route of infection
Pneumonia is defined as an infectious disease, the patient will develop pneumonia depends on the pathogen, the patient's immune system as well as other factors.

Prevention
There are several ways to prevent pneumonia. Appropriate treatment of the incubation period of disease (such as AIDS ) can reduce the risk of pneumonia. Smoking cessation is also important, not only because quitting smoking can reduce lung injury and pneumonia because smoking affects the body natural ability to resist.

Studies have shown that there are several ways to the prevention of neonatal proceeds pneumonia. Group B Streptococcus and Chlamydia trachomatis testing for pregnant women, and need antibiotic treatment, can reduce the risk of pneumonia in newborns. The suction force of the amniotic fluid contaminated with fetal excretion in the baby's mouth and throat can reduce the possibility of aspiration pneumonia.

For children and adults, the injection of the vaccine is a very important way of prevention. In the birth of the first year of injection Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae vaccine can largely reduce these bacterial causes of childhood pneumonia importance. Streptococcus pneumoniae vaccine can reduce the adult suffering from this kind of possibility of pneumonia, pneumonia, mainly spread from children to adults. HiB vaccine is now in the world have been widely used. Children with bacterial pneumonia vaccine is still the 2009 high-income countries, the most widely used vaccine, although this situation is changing. In 2009, Rwanda was the first to introduce the vaccine as a national immunization programs in low-income countries.

Streptococcus pneumoniae vaccine is equally effective for adults. In the United States , all over the age of 65 healthy adults and patients with emphysema , heart failure , diabetes , cirrhosis , alcoholism , cerebrospinal fluid leakage or no spleen adults are recommended to accept the vaccine. The vaccination should be repeated after 5-10.

Injection of Streptococcus pneumoniae vaccine annually one injection of influenza vaccine. In addition, health workers, home care workers and pregnant women should be vaccinated to influenza vaccine. When the outbreak of the influenza, amantadine, rimantadine, and tie it Miwei and oseltamivir and other agents that can help prevent influenza.

Treatment of pneumonia
In general, the treatment of pneumonia most of the cast treated with antibiotics; doctors on the type of pneumonia and the patient's immune system to assess the amount of. The small number of patients needed surgery to alleviate the symptoms.

History
Before the invention of antibiotics, pneumonia is often fatal. The twentieth century, the discovery of penicillin, the first effective therapy against pneumonia.