Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lungs. The term is almost always used to refer specifically to infections of the lungs caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi or other parasites; however, it can also refer to lung injury caused by physical or chemical irritants, in which case the term pneumonitis is used to differentiate the condition from infectious pneumonia. This article uses pneumonia only in the first sense, that of infection. Pneumonia may occur in people of all ages, although young children, the elderly, and immunocompromised patients are especially at risk. Antimicrobial drugs are often used to treat pneumonia.

Features

Symptoms of pneumonia commonly include shortness of breath; coughing that produces greenish or yellow sputum; a high fever (that may be accompanied with sweating, chills, and rigors ); sharp or stabbing chest pain, worsened by deep breaths or coughs (pleuritic chest pain); and rapid, shallow breathing that is often painful. Less commonly, there may be hemoptysis (the coughing up of blood), headaches (including migraine headaches), excessive sweating and clammy skin, loss of appetite, excessive fatigue, cyanosis (a blueness of the skin), nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and arthalgia (joint pain) or myalgia (muscle aches). The manifestations of pneumonia, like those for many conditions, may not be typical in older people. They may instead experience new or worsening confusion, or falls.

Related Topics:
Shortness of breath - Sputum - Fever - Chest pain - Hemoptysis - Headache - Sweating - Loss of appetite - Cyanosis - Nausea - Vomiting - Diarrhea - Arthalgia - Myalgia

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Signs of pneumonia are tachypnea (rapid breathing), dullness to percussion, egophony, crackles, tachycardia (rapid heart rate), and fever.

Related Topics:
Signs - Tachypnea - Tachycardia - Fever

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