Risk Factors For Pneumonia
Most healthy people can fight off pneumonia, but for the young, old, frail or immune-compromised, the disease can be tough to battle. In the United States alone, pneumonia kills about 50,000 people a year, mostly adults over 75 and children under 5.
According to UNICEF, more than 2,500 children a day die from pneumonia around the world, most of those under the age of 2, making it the leading cause of death for little ones.
Anyone with a chronic disease such as diabetes, kidney problems, heart failure, HIV/AIDS or a lung disease like COPD is also at high risk, as is anyone undergoing chemotherapy or taking an immunosuppressant drug. Smoking and drinking too much alcohol can also raise your chances of getting the disease.
A Resilience In The Lungs
An excess of the signals described above as promoting immune resistance against microbes can be dangerous to the lung tissue itself. Perhaps the most direct and immediate element controlling the magnitude of this response is the size and strength of the initial stimulus, which wanes as a consequence of adequate defense. But the self-limiting nature of infection, or lack thereof, cannot apply a sufficient level of control to ensure tissue protection. This is accomplished, in part, through inducible processes that actively limit innate immunity and acute pulmonary inflammation. For example, classic anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-10, transforming growth factor -, and IL-1 receptor antagonist are sufficient and necessary to reduce innate immune responses and inflammatory lung injury during pneumonia . Of course, this comes with the risk of overly blunting immune resistance and exacerbating infection , highlighting the complexity of achieving effective but balanced immune responses to invading pathogens.
The alveolar-capillary barrier is maintained and restored by the presence of tight junctions and the expression of epithelial Na+ channels and other membrane transporters which actively limit the airspace liquid accumulation characteristic of pneumonia . These surface proteins are dynamically regulated by host factors such as cAMP agonists, glucocorticoids, thyroid hormone, and TRAIL, and disruption of these pathways can enhance acute lung injury .
Pleural Effusion Empyema And Abscess
In pneumonia, a collection of fluid may form in the space that surrounds the lung. Occasionally, microorganisms will infect this fluid, causing an empyema. To distinguish an empyema from the more common simple parapneumonic effusion, the fluid may be collected with a needle , and examined. If this shows evidence of empyema, complete drainage of the fluid is necessary, often requiring a drainage catheter. In severe cases of empyema, surgery may be needed. If the infected fluid is not drained, the infection may persist, because antibiotics do not penetrate well into the pleural cavity. If the fluid is sterile, it must be drained only if it is causing symptoms or remains unresolved.
In rare circumstances, bacteria in the lung will form a pocket of infected fluid called a lung abscess. Lung abscesses can usually be seen with a chest X-ray but frequently require a chest CT scan to confirm the diagnosis. Abscesses typically occur in aspiration pneumonia, and often contain several types of bacteria. Long-term antibiotics are usually adequate to treat a lung abscess, but sometimes the abscess must be drained by a surgeon or radiologist.
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What Are The Symptoms Of Leukemia
The symptoms of leukemia will vary according to its type and other factors like the age and overall health of the individual. Some common symptoms include:
- Weakness and fatigue
- A sensation of pain deep within the bones
- Easy bruising
- Tenderness below the left ribcage due to an enlarged spleen
- A swollen belly or abdominal discomfort
- Swollen lymph nodes around the neck, underarms or groin area
- Tiny red or purple spots underneath the skin
- Weight loss and reduced appetite
Leukemia usually does not cause noticeable symptoms in its early stages. In many cases, people dont realize there is a problem until they receive routine bloodwork or seek medical care for an unrelated issue. Even though the above symptoms are more likely to be caused by a benign condition, be sure to promptly speak with a physician if any of them occur.
V Tissue Resilience And Pneumonia
Like the local and remote resistance pathways outlined above, biological processes driving tissue resilience also include input from intra- and extrapulmonary sources. The shared goal of these signals is to limit injury resulting from all aspects of infection, which requires countermeasures to damage elicited from the microbes, as well as that from the host response . Failure to achieve this goal progresses pneumonia to ARDS and sepsis . Two major avenues for fortifying tissue resilience in the airspaces are events that 1) provide negative feedback on inflammation, which left unchecked can cause injury and 2) retain the function and number of viable lung parenchymal cells to ensure an environment supportive of gas exchange. Some of these events will be highlighted below, with consideration to both intra- and extrapulmonary contributions.
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How Bacterial Pneumonia Damages The Heart
Bacterial pneumonia is an infection that affects one or both of the lungs. It creates an inflammation of the alveoli and causes them to fill up with cellular debris, pus, and fluid. This makes it more difficult for the body to turn oxygen into carbon dioxide. The most common symptoms of bacterial pneumonia are pain while breathing and breathlessness. Bacterial pneumonia can be mild or very serious. A severe case of bacterial pneumonia can even cause respiratory failure and death. Unfortunately, those are not the only risks and dangers that bacterial pneumonia creates. Recent studies have shown that bacterial pneumonia can do serious damage to the heart.
Several studies have been done to determine whether bacterial pneumonia has an impact on the heart. Scientists analyzed the autopsies of humans, mice, and rhesus macaques and found that living things that have suffered from pneumonia have a much higher possibility of acquiring heart problems in the future. The mice autopsies showed more troponin in the blood sample of mice sick with bacterial pneumonia than in the blood of healthy mice. Troponin is a well-known signal of a heart problem. These mice were also found to have an abnormal heart rate.
Effect Of Ards On Lungs
Covid 19 directly impacts the lungs and damages the alveoli . The function of the alveolus is to transfer oxygen to the blood vessels. These blood vessels or capillaries carry the oxygen to the RBCs . It is the RBCs that finally deliver the oxygen to all the internal organs in the body.
The virus works by damaging the wall and the lining of the alveolus and capillaries. The debris from the damage, which is plasma protein accumulates on the alveolus wall and thickens the lining. As the walls thicken, the transfer of oxygen to the red blood cells is impaired. The thicker the wall gets, the more difficult it gets to transfer oxygen to the red blood cells, which causes difficulty in breathing as the body is running short of oxygen. And the lack of oxygen to the internal organs results in a deficit in the body and impairs the functioning of the organs. At this juncture, the body fights to increase oxygen intake.
And the first response of the body is to destroy the virus and prevent its replication, but if the individual has weaker immunity then the body is unable to stop the virus, and this aggravates the crisis
Pneumonia
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What Can I Do To Feel Better If I Have Pneumonia
- Finish all medications and therapies prescribed by your doctor. Do not stop taking antibiotics when you start feeling better. Continue taking them until no pills remain. If you dont take all your antibiotics, your pneumonia may come back.
- If over-the-counter medicines to reduce fever have been recommended , take as directed on the label. Never give aspirin to children.
- Drink plenty of fluids to help loosen phlegm.
- Quit smoking if you smoke. Dont be around others who smoke or vape. Surround yourself with as much clean, chemical-free air as possible.
- Use a humidifier, take a steamy shower or bath to make it easier for you to breathe.
- Get lots of rest. Dont rush your recovery. It can take weeks to get your full strength back.
If at any time you start to feel worse, call your doctor right away.
How Is Pneumonia Spread From Person To Person
Pneumonia is spread when droplets of fluid containing the pneumonia bacteria or virus are launched in the air when someone coughs or sneezes and then inhaled by others. You can also get pneumonia from touching an object previously touched by the person with pneumonia or touching a tissue used by the infected person and then touching your mouth or nose.
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Can Pneumonia Be Prevented
Check with your healthcare provider about getting immunizations. The flu is a common cause of pneumonia. Because of that, getting a flu shot every year can help prevent both the flu and pneumonia.
There is also a pneumococcal vaccine. It will protect you from a common form of bacterial pneumonia. Children younger than age 5 and adults ages 65 and older should get this shot.
The pneumococcal shot is also recommended for all children and adults who are at increased risk of pneumococcal disease due to other health conditions.
When Would I Need To Be Hospitalized For Pneumonia
If your case of pneumonia is more severe, you may need tostay in the hospital for treatment. Hospital treatments may include:
- Oxygen
- Fluids, antibiotics and other medicines given through an IV
- Breathing treatments and exercises to help loosen mucus
People most likely to be hospitalized are those who are most frail and/or at increased risk, including:
- Babies and young children
- People with weakened immune systems
- People with health conditions that affect the heart and lungs
It may take six to eight weeks to return to a normal level of functioning and well-being if youve been hospitalized with pneumonia.
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Conclusions And Future Directions
It is widely recognised that pneumonia in young children causes a considerable worldwide burden of mortality and short-term morbidity in survivors. What is less well known is that infectious insults to the rapidly growing and still developing lungs in the first 13 years of life are independently associated with an increased risk of impaired lung function in adulthood. The risks appear greatest for those whose illness is of sufficient severity to warrant treatment in hospital. The long-term effects associated with early childhood pneumonia include restrictive or obstructive lung function deficits and an increased risk of adult asthma, non-smoking related COPD, and bronchiectasis. The studies underpinning these observations do however have important limitations. They are a mixture of prospective and retrospective studies, involving both community- and hospital-based populations experiencing illness of varying severity, with incomplete follow-up and opportunities for sampling and recall bias, and diagnostic misclassification of bronchitis, bronchiolitis, viral-induced wheezing and asthma as pneumonia. Most important of all is that most studies do not have prior lung function data for their pneumonia cases and subsequent impairments in lung function might simply reflect pre-existing abnormalities in already susceptible infants and young children.
Pneumonia In Young Children And Subsequent Adult Lung Disease
Throughout the last three decades evidence has emerged suggesting that adult-onset chronic pulmonary disorders are likely to have their origins in early life. Here we review the evidence of the published data.
There are two published systematic reviews on the long-term impact of childhood pneumonia , with one review also including studies relating to bronchiectasis. As the authors used different search terms, there were both similarities and differences between the two reviews. Nevertheless, the Thomson et al review involved two additional prospective studies on radiographically confirmed pneumonia.
Here, we summarise studies identified from these reviews and our own search with a focus on prospective and case-control studies. Relevant studies were identified by searching the PubMed database using the terms children and pneumonia and long term, respectively in their titles or abstracts without language restrictions. Studies published prior to 13 April 2015 were included.
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When Can I Return To Work School And Regular Activities If I Have Pneumonia
You typically can resume your normal activities if your symptoms are gone, mild or improving and you do not have new or worsening:
- Shortness of breath or tiredness
- Chest pain
- Mucus, fever or cough
If you are generally healthy, most people feel well enough to return to previous activities in about a week. However, it may take about a month to feel totally back to normal.
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The best way to prevent pneumonia is to take advantage of vaccinations. Pneumonia often follows the flu, so getting a yearly flu vaccination is key.
For those in high-risk populations, three types of pneumonia vaccines are currently available: PCV13 or pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, which protects against a few serotypes of Streptococal bacteria PPSV23 or pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine, which protects against many more and Hib, or Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine.
Each has certain risks and recommendations, so check with your health care provider to be sure the vaccine is safe for you or your family.
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Medical History And Physical Exam
Your doctor will ask about your signs and symptoms and when they began. Your doctor will also ask whether you have any risk factors for pneumonia. Your doctor also may ask about:
- Exposure to sick people at home, school, or work or in a hospital
- Flu or pneumonia vaccinations
- Exposure to birds and other animals
- Smoking
During your physical exam, your doctor will check your temperature and listen to your lungs with a stethoscope.
Research Paper On Cystic Fibrosis
Discovered in 1989, Cystic Fibrosis is the most common, fatal genetic disease in the United States. Statistics show that 30,000 people in the US have been named with this disease. Cystic Fibrosis is a disease caused when the CFTR is defective and the cells do not release the right amount of chloride. This causes for the body to produce thick, sticky mucus that clogs up the lungs, leads to infection, blocks the pancreas, which stops the digestive enzymes from reaching the intestine. Symptoms require salty tasting skin, wheezing, shortness of breath, persistent coughing, poor growth or weight gain, frequent/bulky stool, and male infertility.
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How Does Pneumonia Have An Effect On Your Entire Body
What exactly is pneumonia?
Pneumonia is definitely an infection in 1 or the two of one’s lungs. Numerous compact germs, which include bacteria, viruses, and fungi, may cause pneumonia. Pneumonia is not really a single illness. It might have more than 30 different causes. Understanding the result in of pneumonia is significant due to the fact pneumonia treatment relies on its trigger.
Approximately one-third on the pneumonia scenarios in the United states each and every year are due to respiratory viruses. These viruses will be the most common result in of pneumonia in young children younger than five many years.
The flu virus would be the most typical result in of viral pneumonia in adults. Other viruses that induce pneumonia include things like respiratory syncytial virus, rhinovirus, herpes simplex virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome , and even more.
How does Pneumonia affect the body?
A lot of the time, the body filters germs out of the air that we breathe. This keeps the lungs from becoming infected. But germs from time to time obtain a method to enter the lungs and lead to infections. This can be a lot more possible to happen when:
Your immune technique is weak. A germ is extremely sturdy. Your system fails to filter germs out of the air that you breathe.
Pneumonia impacts your lungs in two approaches. Lobar pneumonia impacts a section of the lung. Bronchial pneumonia affects patches throughout both lungs.
Bacterial Pneumonia
B Extrapulmonary Innate Immune Physiology
The immunological capacity of the lungs is shaped by a complex and highly dynamic pool of local constituents, some of which are discussed above. Typically, the lungs are remarkably efficient at compartmentalizing both infections and the response that they elicit, with a breach in containment representing insufficient resistance and resilience, potentially resulting in ARDS and/or sepsis. While it is logical, and certainly necessary, to investigate innate immune responses to lung infections from a local intrapulmonary perspective, lung defense does not and cannot occur in a vacuum. Rather, it involves an integrated physiological response in which the lungs selectively send and receive input from extrapulmonary tissues. Elucidating the identity and functional relevance of these signals has been historically challenging, due in large part to limited tools for interrogating tissue-specific contributions and the ever-present complications in distinguishing cause from effect. Yet, advances in gene targeting and other experimental approaches continue to expand our understanding and appreciation for remote processes controlling local immune resistance during pneumonia.
1. Liver
2. Bone marrow
3. Spleen
4. Gastrointestinal tract
5. Fat
6. Other extrapulmonary influences on lung innate immunity
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Relationship Between Oral Infection And Systemic Diseases And Future Studies
As mentioned above, a large number of publications have suggested that oral infection, especially periodontitis, are a potential contributing factor to a variety of clinically important systemic diseases. Endocarditis has been studied most extensively. It appears that dental procedures and oral infection meet currently accepted epidemiological criteria for causation of endocarditis . However, there is still not sufficient evidence to claim a causal association between oral infection and other systemic diseases.
Epidemiological research can identify relationships but not causation. If some types of periodontal disease merely constitute an oral component of a systemic disorder or have etiological features in common with systemic diseases, periodontal and systemic diseases might frequently occur together without having a cause-effect relationship .
If the criteria listed above can be satisfied, then a causal relationship between periodontal disease and systemic disease is probable. Nevertheless, so much information is accessible at the moment that it seems justified to state that good oral health is important not only to prevent oral disease but also to maintain good general health.