Walking pneumonia: what it is and how to treat it

What is pneumonia

Pneumonia is an infectious disease that affects the lungs, and their main part, consisting of the alveoli. Alveoli are tiny bubbles in which gas exchange takes place. This differs pneumonia from bronchitis - an inflammation of the tubes through which air from the environment enters the lungs.

Pneumonia is a serious illness that can be life threatening, especially if the body is weakened by other diseases. In children, the elderly and in patients with chronic respiratory diseases, pneumonia is more severe.

Community-acquired pneumonia is much easier than nosocomial pneumonia, and therefore sometimes proceeds without obvious symptoms. Nosocomial is one that the patient contracted when he was already in the hospital. Typically, the germs that live in the hospital are much stronger than the average. They are accustomed to creepy detergents and drugs, so they have become resistant to antibiotics and cannot be treated.

Where does it come from

Infection occurs from the action of microorganisms - viruses, bacteria, protozoa or fungi. Community-acquired pneumonia is more often streptococcal or staphylococcal. And in mild forms, pneumonia caused by mycoplasmas and chlamydia passes.

Infected from other people, in closed rooms with a large number of visitors. Therefore, schoolchildren, students and everyone who works in large offices, where they forget to ventilate the premises, are at risk.

Pneumonia is often a complication of other infections, such as the common cold or flu.

How dangerous is walking pneumonia

Pneumonia is not always difficult. If you have a strong and healthy body, a virus or bacteria attacking your lungs won't do much harm. The maximum that you can feel is cough and malaise, a slight increase in temperature and chills Novikov, Yu. K. … Not much different from your regular seasonal cold, right?

But pneumonia is so dangerous that it can unexpectedly turn into a serious condition. Therefore, you should always see a doctor if your illness has dragged on: you have been coughing for more than a week, you do not see improvement for several days in a row, or after a slight improvement you feel worse.

What to do if you get sick

There is no specific way to protect yourself from pneumonia, except for general recommendations: do not visit large crowds, wash your hands more often, lead a healthy lifestyle, and get flu shots. By the way, there are vaccines against some bacteria that cause pneumonia.

If the disease still caught up with you, then do not look at the fact that she is a walker. Stay home and heal.

The main remedy for pneumonia is antibiotics. Since the tests will not be ready at the beginning of the disease, no one will say which microorganism caused the inflammation. Therefore, the doctor will prescribe antibiotics that will be effective in most cases. It is imperative to strictly follow the recommendations and drink pills as much as the doctor said. Usually after a few days, taking antibiotics becomes much easier, so patients quit treatment. But in no case should you do this. Each antibiotic has its own duration, and if the doctor prescribed a course for 10 days, then you need to take the pills all this time, even if the symptoms have already gone. Otherwise, the most persistent microbes will remain in your lungs.

The rest of the recommendations are the same as for the treatment of influenza:

You need to drink more fluids so that phlegm does not stagnate in the lungs.
You need to ventilate the room to breathe only fresh air.
It is necessary to carry out wet cleaning every day so that germs do not accumulate in the dust.
You need to sleep more and eat right so that the body has the strength to fight the disease.