Hello everyone,
Greetings from me,
This is @alfazmalek02 and today I will my medical-related topics with you. Today I'll choose the topic of pneumonia. I'm working in the healthcare field for the last 6 years after my graduation. I've more knowledge related to disease and disorder also I know treatment for same. So that I would like to share some information related to pneumonia.
What is pneumonia?
Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lung parenchyma and it is caused by many organisms like bacteria, mycobacteria, fungi, and viruses. Pneumonia is a common term used to describe an inflammatory process in lung tissue. According to the center for disease control and prevention in 2009 total of 51,000 death occurred due to Pneumonia and Influenza. According to the center for disease control In the United States in 2010 pneumonia is the leading cause of 53,692 deaths.
Do you know the types of pneumonia?
We can classify pneumonia into 4 types.
| Number | Short name | Full name |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | CAP | Community Acquired Pneumonia |
| 2 | HCAP | Health Care-Associated Pneumonia |
| 3 | HAP | Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia |
| 4 | VAP | Ventilator Associated Pneumonia |
In 2005 Health Care-Associated Pneumonia added for to identify patient at increased risk for multidrug-resistant which is also call MDR for pathogen versus community acquired pathogen.
Now we will know about the types of pneumonia one by one.
1. Community-Acquired Pneumonia(CAP).
Imagine if you are admitted to the hospital and you get pneumonia 48 hours within being admitted, it is called Community-Acquired Pneumonia(CAP). S. Pneumonia is the most common cause of community-acquired pneumonia. S. pneumonia is a gram-positive organism which is lie in the upper respiratory tract and cause disseminated invasive infections, lower respiratory tract infection, and upper respiratory tract infection like rhinosinusitis and otitis media. due to upper respiratory tract infection, bronchopneumonic and lobar respiratory illnesses occur.
H. Influenzae causes a type of Community-Acquired Pneumonia(CAP) which is frequently affects adults and those with comorbid illness like diabetes, alcoholism and Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Mycoplasma pneumonia is caused by M. Pneumoniae. It's characterized such that it spreads from person to person due to infected respiratory droplets. If a person has had Mycoplasma pneumoniae, then if he coughs, sneezes, or talks, then his infected droplet reaches the mouth of another person. Then this droplet goes into the respiratory track of the person and infects the other person as well. That's why we were told during the time of covid-19 infection to keep a distance of 6 feet while talking. It spreads throughout the whole respiratory tract and also reaches the bronchi, hence it is also called bronchopneumonia. Like bacteria, viruses are also the most common cause of pneumonia but It is very difficult to distinguish between bacterial infection and viral infection. cytomegaloviruses are the most common viral diseases such as the herpes simplex virus and adenovirus. Basically, the process of getting pneumonia is from the entire respiratory track to the alveolar. Acute viral infection first occurs in ciliated cells and due to infiltration travels from the bronchial tree to the alveolar, causing edema.
2. Health Care-Associated Pneumonia(HCAP)
Health Care-Associated Pneumonia is often multi-drug-resistant. So it is very difficult and important to determine the type of pneumonia in the beginning. For this reason, there should not be any delay in taking an antibiotic dose in the beginning. Health Care-Associate pneumonia was added on 2005 to identify multi-drug-resistant versus community acquired pneumonia. You can still get Health Care Associated Pneumonia even if you are receiving treatment from a health care associate.
3. Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia(HAP):
Hospital-acquired pneumonia is occurring 48 hours or more than 48 after hospitalization or admission to the hospital. Ventilator associate pneumonia is a subtype of hospital-acquired pneumonia(we will discuss it in the next explanation). You all know a hospital is a major center for infection. all patients arrive with many and more different illnesses so hospitals investigate specific organisms and work with causative and antibiotic medicine to relive infection or any other illness. Also if I say you so intensive care unit is the most common area for infection because critically ill and bedridden patients are taking advanced treatment here. so there is more risk for infection and again and again, if you visit here or stay a long time so chances are increased for infection. So the patient who is staying a long time like who is taking treatment with intravenous injection, observation in the general ward, prolonged or very complicated thoracic or abdominal surgery or procedure or other surgical patient or as well as like intubated(endotracheal) patient they are all under risk for hospital-acquired infection. Because they are all not taking infection from outside.
IMAGE SOURCE
Hospital-acquired infection is the count after 48 hours of admission/hospitalization. Hospital-acquired pneumonia has a very high mortality rate. There are E.coli and many such organisms because of which you can identify hospital-acquired pneumonia. In its symptoms, you can see that the patient also gets sputum along with a cough and also has fever. If you look at the chest X-ray of Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia, you will also see consolidation in the infected person. Friends, consolidation means that due to infection, the part of the lung tissue up to the alveoli becomes hard and that part of the lung is not stretchable for breathing.4.Ventilator associate pneumonia
- Friends, like I told you further that ventilator-associated pneumonia which is a subtype of hospital-acquired pneumonia. Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia is the most common and complicated infection occurring in the hospital's intensive care unit. When a patient takes the support of a mechanical ventilator, then if he remains on the support of the ventilator for at least 48 hours and after 48 hours he develops pneumonia, then it is called ventilator-associated pneumonia. Endotracheal tubes There are many such infectious organisms that are responsible for causing pneumonia in the patient's lungs. Friends, the treatment of this infection is very costly because in this infection there are multi-drug resistance organisms, so many different antibiotics are also invoked in it.
- So, friends, I hope that you must have understood the basic information and classification of pneumonia given by me. Friends, my intention to share this information with you was that whether you stay in the community or in the hospital, then understand these complications and give a chance to the doctors to do the treatment. If you are educated about diseases and complications, then you will not allow wrong to your patient and at the same time prevent complications from happening.
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I remember when I thought pneumonia was caused by cold, so I avoided cold as much as I could, especially after a classmate lost her life to pneumonia.
May her soul rest in peace and grateful for knowledge.