Pneumonia Terms

Here are some terms about pneumonia that might help you with your queries and you can maybe diagnose your problem and know what you should do for specific problems. Here are some most searched Pneumonia terms.

Multifocal pneumonia

This is a term created by health experts denoting to a wide range of infection in the lungs. As doctors examine the lungs through x-ray or any other testing ways, they focus on a specific area and search for infection in the specific part of the lungs. But sometimes, lungs might be affected in more than one area and there might be inflammation in different areas of lungs, so, these types are known as multifocal pneumonia.

Aspergillosis pneumonia

This is a specific kind of infection or allergic response caused by the Aspergillus fungus. This fungus generally comes from dead leaves, old foods like stored grain, or other decaying vegetation. It is known to have been found on marijuana leaves. Most people are exposed to this fungus but people with healthy immune system won’t experience any infections.

This infection generally generates in people already having lung problems like asthma or cystic fibrosis.
One of its complications is Aspergilloma. It is a fungus ball (growth) which develops in an area of past lung infection such as tuberculosis or lung abscess.

It also causes invasive pulmonary aspergillosis which is a serious infection with pneumonia. It can easily spread to other parts of the body and it occurs most often in people with weak immune system such as cancer, AIDS, chemotherapy, or leukemia patients.

RSV pneumonia

RSV (Respiratory syncytial virus) infection is like a bad cold. It has the same symptoms. And just like a cold, it is very common and extremely contagious. Most children have experienced it at least once by age 2.

It is usually not worth worrying about. But as it can lead to RSV pneumonia, you might have to watch the symptoms and call your doctor in severe cases.

Nocardia pneumonia

Nocardia asteroides bacteria causes an infection called Nocardiosis. These bacteria are generally found in soil and water. People become infected after they breathe in the bacteria or the bacteria somehow enters an open wound.
While mostly Nocardia infection affects the lungs, there are chances it can spread to other parts of the body. This infection can be life-threatening for people having weak immune systems due to another medical condition like cancer or HIV.

Nocardiosis is diagnosed by taking a tissue sample from the infected area searching it for the presence of N. asteroides bacteria. This infection can be treated successfully by taking long-term antibiotics.

This infection usually responds slowly to treatment, this is why it can be life-threatening to people with weakened immune systems more so if diagnosis and treatment are delayed. It’s quite mandatory for such people to seek treatment as soon as symptoms develop. This should help preventing the infection from spreading and causing complications.

Meningococcal pneumonia

Neisseria meningitides is an important cause of bacterial meningitis mostly in children and young adults. This meningococcal disease can cause meningococcal pneumonia in worst case scenario. This is quite a rare condition and there has been about five hundred such recorded cases in last 50 years. It needs thorough research for diagnosis.

Canine pneumonia

Canine pneumonia is a pneumonia which affects the dogs. Generally, healthy adult dogs don’t suffer with this problem. This only happens to newly born or older dogs that don’t have healthy immune system to fight against the disease. This is difficult to detect because sometimes dogs may never show signs of being sick even though they’re suffering with pneumonia. They might breathe rapidly making noises and show some difficulty. They have a wet cough and a nasal discharge from nostrils. There may be frequent sneezing and fever, loss of appetite and weakness, depression in your dog if suffering from pneumonia.

Mycoplasma pneumonia (Walking Pneumonia)

Mycoplasma pneumonia (MP) is a kind of pneumonia caused by the Mycoplasma pneumonia bacterium. MP is sometimes also known as “walking pneumonia” and its name might be intimidating but it often has milder symptoms than normal, typical pneumonia.

It can be treated with regular intake of antibiotics. MP is a contagious respiratory infection which can spread easily through contact with respiratory fluids. It can spread and cause epidemics.

It causes a dry cough and if it goes untreated it can affect the brain, heart, other part of the nervous system, kidneys, and skin and can cause hemolytic anemia. It is rare but in some cases it can be fatal.

Early diagnosis might be a bit difficult as there are some unusual and confusing symptoms. Antibiotics must be taken to treat MP.

Unlike normal pneumonia, MP’s symptoms are low-grade fever, dry cough, fatigue, and mild shortness of breath with exertion.

Treatment for walking pneumonia

  1. Perform some exercise, eat healthy diet, and get adequate sleep. Doing these things will help in keeping your body healthy and make it able to resist infection.
  2. Wash your hands and you can prevent germs from spreading.
  3. Smoking is very injurious when it comes to respiratory diseases. As it damages the lungs, and they are more likely to get infected.
  4. You need to cover your mouth while sneezing and wash your hands later. This will prevent the germs from spreading and is always a healthy habit.

Lobar pneumonia

It is an acute inflammation of an entire pulmonary lobe, which is mostly caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae pneumococci.

If it goes untreated, it can cause enlargement of lobe with some complication. It can cause congestion in early stages, with red hepatization and in the worst cases, gray hepatization and leukocytic problems.

Klebsiella pneumoniae

Klebsiella pneumoniae is an anaerobic, rod-shaped bacterium which appears as a lactose fermenter on MacConkey agar.

It can cause destructive changes to human and animal lungs if inhaled specifically to the alveoli in the lungs which will result in bloody sputum. It is naturally found in the soil it can fix nitrogen in anaerobic conditions.

Klebsiella pneumoniae treatment

  • Phage therapy

Klebsiella pneumoniae is multiple drug resistant but it can be cured with phage therapy. Phage therapy is generally used in conjunction with antibiotics, to add the effectiveness and make the body immune to K. pneumonia.

MRSA pneumonia

MRSA stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and it is a type of staphylococcus bacterium which is resistant to many antibiotics. This bacteria lives on your skin and in your nose without causing significant problems. The symptoms of MRSA infection is mostly similar to other pneumonia. They can cause serious infections if they become resistant to antibiotics, especially in people with weak immunity.
Special treatment methods are required in order to heal MRSA pneumonia and antibiotics may not work.

Aspiration pneumonia

Aspiration pneumonia is an inflammation of your bronchial tubes and lungs which is induced after you inhale oral or gastric contents. It is not the most common type of pneumonia.

Aspiration pneumonia is caused if you inhale materials such as vomit, liquid, or food. Your mouth and throat normally contain lots of species of bacteria which get aspirated along with these oral or gastric contents. Those bacteria will grow in the lungs and subsequently turn into pneumonia. This type of pneumonia are caused by anaerobic bacteria. It is important to know that these can damage the lung tissue and cause inflammation known as chemical pneumonitis.

Double pneumonia

Double pneumonia is a kind of lung infection which might be caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses or fungi. The term “double” denotes that both the lungs have been infected. Though some people might only experience mild forms of it, this can really be life threatening if it is left untreated.

Respiratory Symptoms

There are some respiratory issues and difficulties which can get worse if the pneumonia persists without any treatments.

Constitutional Symptoms

There is high fever and shaking of the body and more severe complications in the people with low immunity power and people with significant illness.

Additional Symptoms

Certain patients experience headaches, fatigue and restlessness and some have also reported flu and cold symptoms which is not very surprising.

Pseudomonas pneumonia

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important cause of gram-negative infection, especially in patients having compromised host defense mechanisms. It is the most found pathogen in the patients who have been hospitalized for more than 1 week, and it is a frequent cause of some nosocomial infections. Pseudomonal pneumonia are complicated and can be life-threatening. There is an immediate requirement of medical attention.

Hypostatic pneumonia

Hypostatic pneumonia is a type of pneumonia resulting from infection generating in the portions of the lungs due to lowered ventilation of those areas that might result failure in draining bronchial secretions. This occurs primarily in old people or people who have a very low and weak immune system.

Here were some pneumonia terms that might have helped you. There may not have been enough information for every topic had some brief ideas but it has covered the gist and you can have the slightest of knowledge about each of the above mentioned terms. But remember pneumonia is dangerous disease and there is a compulsory need of doctor’s advice, so you should take that.

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