How Your Doctor Chooses
Your doctor will select the right antibiotic for you based on multiple factors, including:
- Your age: People 65 and older have a greater risk of serious complications from pneumonia infections.
- Your health history: A history of smoking, lung diseases, or other conditions may influence a person’s ability to fight off infections.
- The exact infection you have: Your doctor may take a sample and test it for bacteria. They can then pick an antibiotic based on your specific infection.
- Your previous experiences with antibiotics: Make sure to tell your doctor if you are allergic to any medications, had bad reactions to antibiotics in the past, or have developed an antibacterial-resistant infection.
- The antibiotic sensitivity of the bacteria: The lab will test the bacteria causing your pneumonia to determine which antibiotics it is sensitive or resistant to.
Doctors typically choose your antibiotics prescription based on what medicines they think will be most effective and cause the fewest side effects.
Diagnosis And Treatment Of Community
M. NAWAL LUTFIYYA, PH.D., ERIC HENLEY, M.D., M.P.H., and LINDA F. CHANG, PHARM.D., M.P.H., B.C.P.S., University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford, Rockford, Illinois
STEPHANIE WESSEL REYBURN, M.D., M.P.H., Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education, Rochester, Minnesota
Am Fam Physician. 2006 Feb 1 73:442-450.
Patients with community-acquired pneumonia often present with cough, fever, chills, fatigue, dyspnea, rigors, and pleuritic chest pain. When a patient presents with suspected community-acquired pneumonia, the physician should first assess the need for hospitalization using a mortality prediction tool, such as the Pneumonia Severity Index, combined with clinical judgment. Consensus guidelines from several organizations recommend empiric therapy with macrolides, fluoroquinolones, or doxycycline. Patients who are hospitalized should be switched from parenteral antibiotics to oral antibiotics after their symptoms improve, they are afebrile, and they are able to tolerate oral medications. Clinical pathways are important tools to improve care and maximize cost-effectiveness in hospitalized patients.
SORT: KEY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRACTICE
Patients with suspected community-acquired pneumonia should receive chest radiography.
SORT: KEY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRACTICE
Patients with suspected community-acquired pneumonia should receive chest radiography.
Overview of Community-Acquired Pneumonia
Definition
Definition
When To Call The Doctor
You should call your childs doctor if your child:
- Has trouble breathing or is breathing much faster than usual
- Has a bluish or gray color to the fingernails or lips
- Is older than 6 months and has a fever over 102°F
- Is younger than 6 months and has a temperature over 100.4°F.
- Has a fever for more than a few days after taking antibiotics
When your child should stay home and return to school or childcare
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How Is Pneumonia Diagnosed
A doctor can often diagnose pneumonia based on the symptoms and by examining your chest. But you may need to have a chest X-ray to confirm that you have it.
Sometimes it can be difficult to tell whether you have pneumonia or another kind of chest infection. If its not clear, your GP may do a blood test or take a sputum sample to help decide if you need antibiotics.
What Is Walking Pneumonia
Walking pneumonia is a mild form of pneumonia . This non-medical term has become a popular description because you may feel well enough to be walking around, carrying out your daily tasks and not even realize you have pneumonia.
Most of the time, walking pneumonia is caused by an atypical bacteria called Mycoplasma pneumoniae, which can live and grow in the nose, throat, windpipe and lungs . It can be treated with antibiotics.
Scientists call walking pneumonia caused by mycoplasma atypical because of the unique features of the bacteria itself. Several factors that make it atypical include:
- Milder symptoms
- Natural resistance to medicines that would normally treat bacterial infections
- Often mistaken for a virus because they lack the typical cell structure of other bacteria
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How Do You Diagnose Pneumonia
- Symptoms – a doctor will suspect pneumonia from asking about your symptoms and how you are feeling. They may also ask about your medical history and that of your family. They will be interested in whether you smoke, how much and for how long. The examination may include checking your temperature. Sometimes your doctor will check how much oxygen is circulating around your body. This is done with a small device that sits on the end of your finger. The doctor will listen to your chest, so they may want you to lift or take off your top. If you want a chaperone during the examination, the doctor will arrange one. If you have asthma, they may ask you to check your peak flow measurement. They will listen to your chest with a stethoscope. Tapping your chest over the infected lung is also sometimes performed. This is called percussion. An area of infected lung may sound dull.
- X-ray – a chest X-ray may be required to confirm the diagnosis and to see how serious the infection is.
- Other tests – these tests are usually carried out if you need to be admitted to hospital. They include sending a sample of phlegm for analysis and blood cultures to check if the infection has spread to your blood.
Is There A Vaccine For Pneumonia
Of course, the easiest way to treat pneumonia is to never get it in the first place. The pneumococcal vaccine, sometimes called the pneumonia vaccine, can help you do just that. It inoculates you against infection with Pneumococcus , the most common cause of bacterial pneumonia. About 900,000 people in the U.S. get pneumococcal pneumonia each year, according to the CDC, with about 400,000 requiring hospitalization. About 5% to 7% of those hospitalized with pneumococcal pneumonia die from it.
The same bacteria can also cause life-threatening brain infections and bloodstream infections . The CDC recommends pneumococcal vaccination for all adults ages 65 and over, all kids under 2, and people who smoke or have certain chronic health conditions. There are two versions of it: Prevnar 13 and Pneumovax 23 . Talk with your doctor about which you should have. For some groups, both vaccines are recommended.
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How Is Walking Pneumonia Different
Walking pneumonia, also known as atypical pneumonia, is caused by mycoplasma pneumoniae bacteria. It usually causes cold-like symptoms, in addition to a fever and a hacking cough. It is most common in school-aged children and young adults, says Annette Cameron, MD, a Yale Medicine pediatrician.
Because this type of pneumonia typically causes milder symptoms, it may go undiagnosed for a while, especially if the child is able to participate in normal activities and isnt as visibly sick as he or she would be with other forms of pneumonia. And thats why its called walking pneumonia, Dr. Cameron says. It might just be a little bit of malaise. Sometimes you can have community-acquired, or bacterial pneumonia, along with walking pneumonia, in which case we would just treat both of them.
What Stands Out About Yale Medicines Approach To Pneumonia
Pneumonia is a common infection in both children and adults and can often be easily treated. However, if specialized care is required, Yale Medicine physicians practice at both Yale New Haven Hospital and Yale New Haven Childrens Hospital.
Furthermore, our researchers are involved in developing ways to more quickly and accurately diagnose lung infections through the Yale Center for Pulmonary Infection Research and Treatment . We dont tend to think of pneumonia as a chronic condition. But some patients end up with longer-term problems, says Dr. Dela Cruz, director of the CPIRT. The center focuses on finding new potential treatment options and running clinical trials to better understand the disease.
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What Is The Outlook For Pneumonia
If you are well enough to be looked after at home, your outlook is very good. Less than 1 person in 100 will die as a result of pneumonia. Those who die tend to be people who are older, or those who also have other health problems.
If you need to be looked after in hospital, the outlook is not quite so good. 5-10 people in 100 admitted with pneumonia to an ordinary ward rather than an intensive care unit may die. Again, these will usually be people who were unwell before they had pneumonia, or the elderly. For people who need to have a tube put into their windpipe to help them breathe, the death rate rises to 1 in 4.
If the pneumonia is very severe, or caused by an aggressive type of germ , such as legionella, you may need to be moved to an intensive care unit in the hospital. In these cases the outlook is much worse. Unfortunately, as many as half of these people may die.
If you are normally well but then develop repeated bouts of pneumonia, it may be the first sign of a problem of your lung or immune system. Some tests of your immune system may be advised if pneumonia happens again for no apparent reason.
Before Taking This Medicine
You should not use this medicine if you are allergic to tetracycline or similar medicines such as demeclocycline, doxycycline, minocycline, or tigecycline.
To make sure tetracycline is safe for you, tell your doctor if you have:
-
liver disease or
-
kidney disease.
If you are using tetracycline to treat gonorrhea, your doctor may test you to make sure you do not also have syphilis, another sexually transmitted disease.
Taking this medicine during pregnancy may affect tooth and bone development in the unborn baby. Taking tetracycline during the last half of pregnancy can cause permanent tooth discoloration later in the baby’s life. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or if you become pregnant while using this medicine.
Tetracycline can make birth control pills less effective. Ask your doctor about using a non-hormonal birth control to prevent pregnancy.
Tetracycline can pass into breast milk and may affect bone and tooth development in a nursing infant. Do not breast-feed while you are taking tetracycline.
Children younger than 8 years old should not take tetracycline. Tetracycline can cause permanent tooth discoloration and can also affect a child’s growth.
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What Are The Causes Of Pneumonia
Pneumonia is commonly caused by an infection with a germ. The germ is usually a bacterium or a virus. There are three or four different bacteria that are the most common causes of pneumonia. There is also a well-known group of bacteria that causes pneumonia in about 3 out of 10 cases. They are called atypicals. Other germs such as fungi, yeasts, or protozoa can sometimes also cause pneumonia.
Rarely, non-infective pneumonia is caused by inhaling poisons or chemicals. Many different substances can cause this. They can be in the form of liquids, gases, small particles, dust or fumes.
You may breathe in some bacteria, viruses, or other germs. If you are normally healthy, a small number of germs usually doesn’t matter. They will be trapped in your phlegm and killed by your immune system. Sometimes the germs multiply and cause lung infections. This is more likely to happen if you are already in poor health – for example:
- If you are frail or elderly.
- If you have a chest disease.
- If you have a low immunity to infection. Low immunity can be caused by such things as alcohol dependence, AIDS, or another serious illness.
However, even healthy people sometimes develop pneumonia.
Pneumonia can sometimes develop after an operation, particularly in the region of your head or neck. Having an anaesthetic can increase the risk.
Complications Caused By Pneumonia
Pneumonia can sometimes have complications. They include:
- pleurisy where the pleura, the thin linings between your lungs and ribcage, become inflamed, leading to chest pain. If you have pleurisy, you are more likely to develop fluid on the lungs.
- fluid on the lungs – about 1 in 10 people with pneumonia develop fluid around the lung, called a pleural effusion which can become infected. This may require a sample of the fluid to be taken by inserting a needle between the ribs under local anaesthetic, and if infected is likely to need a longer course of antibiotics. Occasionally, a tube is inserted into the lung to remove fluid as well.
- a lung abscess a rare complication thats mostly seen in people with a serious pre-existing illness or history of alcohol misuse.
- blood poisoning, also called septicaemia – this is where infection spreads from the lungs to the blood stream. This can cause low blood pressure and a severe illness that might need intensive care treatment.
- respiratory failure this is where pneumonia causes low levels of oxygen in the blood even in people given oxygen. This might also require intensive care treatment.
The vast majority of people recover from pneumonia and return to good health. However, pneumonia can be very serious and some people with severe pneumonia dont survive, despite the best available care. Those who are elderly or have other health problems are most at risk of severe or fatal pneumonia.
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Remind Me What Is Pneumonia
In the simplest terms, pneumonia is an infection in your lungsspecifically, the air sacs, or alveoli, and the lung tissue that surrounds them. Its usually caused by either a virus or bacteria . Pneumonia can occur in people of any age, but it is most commonand dangerousin those over 65 and very young children.
To understand pneumonia, it helps to know the basics of how your lungs function normally. Each of your lungs has a main tube, called a bronchus , that carries air into it from your windpipe, or trachea. Each bronchus branches off into progressively smaller bronchi, which in turn split off into thousands of even smaller airways called bronchioles. At the end of the bronchioles are millions of tiny air sacs called alveoli. Your alveoli are covered with very small blood vessels called capillaries that are responsible for transporting oxygen from the alveoli to the cells of your body and returning carbon dioxide, which you then exhale.
When you have pneumonia, though, an immune response to the infection in your lungs causes the alveoli to fill up with fluid or pus and the airways to become inflamed and swollen. This in turn limits the amount of oxygen that can get to your bloodstream and therefore to your bodys organs, leading to symptoms that can range from mild to severe or even life-threatening . In mild cases, though, you may barely notice your symptoms, something experts refer to as walking pneumonia.
Which Medications Are Used For The Treatment Of Coronavirus Pneumonia
Protease inhibitors demonstrated antiviral activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection. Interferon alfa and interferon beta have activity against SARS-CoV in vitro and in animal models. Limited human data seemed to demonstrate some beneficial effect.
Ribavirin is not active against SARS-CoV in vitro, and studies have not shown clinical efficacy. Therefore, this medication is not recommended for this infection.
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What Are The Best Antibiotics For Pneumonia
When a person contracts pneumonia, the air sacs in one or both lungs, called alveoli, fill with pus or fluid.
This fluid can make it difficult to breathe. While pneumonia can be mild, it can also cause severe illness, especially in young children, older adults, and those with other medical problems.
In 2019, more than 40,000 Americans died of pneumonia.
Pneumonia happnes when a virus or bacteria thats living in your bodyin your nose, sinuses, or mouth, for examplespreads into your lungs.
You may also directly breathe the virus or bacteria into your lungs, triggering pneumonia.
Pneumonia is typically caused by viruses or bacteria.
Antibiotics wont help with viral pneumonia.
Bacterial pneumonia is more common, and usually more severe, and can sometimes occur secondary to a viral infection.
If your doctor suspects that you have bacterial pneumonia, they will treat you with antibiotics.
In this article, Ill explain how pneumonia is diagnosed, and when and how its treated with antibiotics.
Ill also talk about when pneumonia requires hospitalization.
Ill also tell you when you should talk to your doctor to see if a persistent cough, shortness of breath, or other upper respiratory symptoms could be pneumonia.
What Are The Different Types Of Pneumonia Medication
Pneumonia can be a serious illness, and many treatments are available for the symptoms as well as the germs that cause pneumonia. Many types of pneumonia are caused by bacteria and can be treated with antibiotics, and the illness usually responds well to these medicines. Other times, pneumonia can be caused by a viral infection, and an antiviral medicine may be prescribed. Still other cases of pneumonia are caused by fungus and may require treatment with antifungal medication. Sometimes, the only types of pneumonia medication needed are over-the-counter medicines to help treat coughing, fever, and other symptoms associated with the disease.
Antibiotics are the most likely pneumonia medication to be used when the illness is caused by bacteria. Usually, a broad spectrum of medication such as erythromycin or doxycycline is prescribed, which will work on a number of different types of bacteria. If a person’s symptoms do not improve with this treatment, a second antibiotic may be given.
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