Previously, pneumonia was a very serious illness that often ended in death. Now the disease is especially dangerous for babies and the elderly. But still, the symptoms of pneumonia in adults need to be known to everyone, since sometimes the situation can become uncontrollable.
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Ways of contracting pneumonia and risk groups
Most at risk of "picking up" the disease are people of advanced and senile age, as well as bedridden patients. Also, people with congenital defects of the immune system or acquired immunodeficiencies, chronic lung diseases, and heavy smokers are often infected with the disease.
Causes of the disease:
- Complications after SARS. A common cold with strong immunity is fearless, as the body quickly copes with the virus. If the immune system is weakened, it is not able to withstand pathogens, and they gradually go down. Runny nose and tonsillitis smoothly pass into bronchitis and pneumonia.
- Infection with Streptococcus bacteria. As a rule, they are transmitted by household or airborne droplets.
- Radioactive radiation or the systematic effects of chemical fumes on the respiratory system.
- Bacterial infection in addition to viral. In this case, the disease develops after an acute respiratory viral infection.
- Lack of normal lung ventilation in bedridden patients. This condition contributes to the rapid development of pathogenic microorganisms.
Also in the list of reasons you can include hypothermia, getting into a foreign body, a complication of allergies.
Types and classification of pneumonia
The severity of the disease is divided into three degrees:
- Easy. The patient is fully conscious. The maximum temperature is 38.5 ° C. Heart palpitations are insignificant. X-rays show that there is a small lesion in the lungs.
- Medium. The patient is conscious, but experiences severe weakness, the temperature rises to 39.5 ° C. Tachycardia is pronounced - up to 100 beats per minute. On an X-ray, infiltration is clearly visible.
- Heavy. The patient often cannot even get out of bed, he is in a fever, the thermometer rises above 40 ° C. Consciousness is partially cloudy, severe shortness of breath and tachycardia.
By the nature of the course of the disease can be:
- acute - occurs spontaneously, recovery occurs in 1.5 - 2 weeks;
- acute lingering - is severe, symptoms persist for more than 3 weeks;
- chronic - poorly treatable, constantly recurs.
Classification by source of infection:
- Out-of-hospital. Occurs outside the walls of medical institutions. It is considered relatively "easy."
- Intrahospital. In this case, the pathogen is superinfection, which is insensitive to the action of antibiotics.
- Provoked by immunodeficiency. It occurs in bedridden patients, people with cancer, HIV-infected.
- Atypical. Proceed according to an unforeseen scenario. The causative agents of the disease may be unknown and not fully understood.
Most often, a person unfamiliar with medicine has heard such terms as croupous and focal pneumonia. Each of them has its own characteristics. With focal pneumonia, the inflammatory process affects only certain sections of the lungs, but it affects the bronchi profusely.
Pneumonia in an adult can be simple or complicated. Inflammation is unilateral or bilateral. In severe cases, total lung damage is observed.
It is also important to recognize the type of pathogen, because this directly affects the choice of medications. The infection can be bacterial, viral, fungal, mixed.
The first signs of pneumonia
Signs of pneumonia in adults are difficult to recognize, as they are similar to the initial manifestations of a common flu or a cold.
Of the most common initial signs, there are:
- chills;
- headache;
- weakness, the so-called "cotton legs";
- muscle pain
- coughing;
- attacks of shortness of breath;
- temperature rise;
- decreased physical activity, fatigue and weakness.
Such symptoms do not cause much anxiety. For this reason, most people lose time, considering their malaise a common cold or flu.
Symptoms of the disease in adults
The clinical picture of the disease looks like this:
- Heat. Taking antipyretic drugs often does not have any effect, fever begins, sometimes even hallucinations. In rare cases, the disease can occur without fever.
- Increased sweating, shortness of breath, feeling of lack of air. Severe weakness and clouding of consciousness indicates severe bilateral lung damage.
- Dry or wet cough. Coughing does not bring any relief. Greenish or reddish thick sputum may be mixed with pus or blood.
- Pain behind the chest, even with minor physical exertion.
- Increased sweating in the chest, head, back.
Rashes near the nose and lips indicate intoxication of the body, which always accompanies lobar pneumonia.
An advanced disease is characterized by a general deterioration. The patient becomes very weak, his appetite is completely lost, it is difficult for him to breathe, his lips and fingertips turn blue. This condition requires urgent resuscitation.
Diagnostic Methods
It is very important to make a correct diagnosis.Doctors must determine the severity and pathogen.
For this, the following diagnostic methods are used:
- visual inspection;
- palpation - palpation from the back to identify seals;
- sputum analysis;
- general blood analysis;
- X-ray
- Ultrasound of the pleural cavity.
Bacanalysis is also often prescribed, which allows you to find out which antibiotics are sensitive to the causative agent of the disease. This simplifies the preparation of treatment regimens.
How to cure pneumonia in an adult
Do not rely on traditional medicine, as the disease is serious. Without proper treatment, the patient’s condition will only worsen.
It is advisable that the patient undergo treatment in a hospital under the supervision of specialists. If this is impossible for some reason, the person caring for the patient needs to remember: with heavy hoarse breathing, shortness of breath, difficulty swallowing, turning the nasolabial triangle and fingertips blue, you need to call an ambulance.
Therapy must necessarily be aimed at destroying pathogenic microflora, restoring lung tissue and improving the general well-being of the patient.
The standard scheme looks like this:
- Taking antibiotics. It is better to start antibiotic therapy as soon as possible.
- A light but high-calorie diet with enough vitamins.
- Reception of expectorant, antipyretic, antiallergic drugs.
- Bed rest in a warm but well-ventilated area.
- Physiotherapy - electrophoresis, inhalation, special physical exercises.
- Use of oxygen masks in case of extensive lesion and severe shortness of breath.
The timely treatment of pneumonia in adults allows reducing the intensity of symptoms by 3-4 days already. Full recovery occurs within 2 to 3 weeks.
In most cases, the prognosis of the course of the disease is favorable, since within 8 to 10 weeks the lung tissue is completely restored.
Possible complications
Complications can be divided into two types:
- Pulmonary - pleurisy, pulmonary edema or gangrene, abscess, respiratory failure.
- Extrapulmonary - mental disorders, heart disease, sepsis.
Pathological microorganisms that enter the lungs can also affect the heart.
The inflammatory process in such cases is called differently, depending on where the infection got into the pericardium, the thickness of the heart muscle or the inner lining of the heart.
These diseases are very dangerous and pose a real threat to life. Fortunately, in people with a functioning immune system, the likelihood of complications is nearing zero. The main thing is to abandon bad habits and prevent the development of chronic diseases, since they all weaken the body.
Preventive measures
Preventive measures are very simple. First of all, it is maintaining a healthy lifestyle and giving up bad habits. Smoking significantly reduces the natural ability of the bronchi and lungs to resist respiratory infections.
It’s also worth taking note of the following tips:
- Proper nutrition, rich in nutrients, strengthens the immune system and has a beneficial effect on the general condition of the body.
- Reasonable hardening is also considered an effective method of preventing such diseases.
- In the case of acute respiratory viral infections, it is better to observe bed rest than to endure malaise on the legs.
- Elderly people are often recommended vaccination against certain types of streptococcus - the most common pathogens of inflammation.
Persons caring for bedridden patients must comply with the following rules:
- Change the body position of your ward every two hours.
- Regularly give him a light vibrational massage in the form of tapping on the back in the chest area. In this case, the movement should go from bottom to top.
- Engage in sick breathing exercises.
- Ventilate the room a couple of times a day.
- Daily measure the temperature, heart rate, pressure and the number of breaths-exhalations of the patient.
Nowadays, pneumonia is not as dangerous as several hundred years ago, but a favorable outcome is possible only with adequate and timely treatment.
