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If Your Child Gets Pneumonia
from: Maxx Family LifePneumonia is an infection of either one lung or both. When both lungs are infected, it's called double pneumonia. When the pneumonia is mild enough that a visit to a doctor can be avoided and your child can carry out daily activities normally, it's called walking pneumonia.
Your lungs are an important part of the respiratory system, of course. The air we breath in contains oxygen, which is filtered by the lungs. This oxygen is then carried throughout the body with the help of your blood, which is passed from the breathing tubes by the alveoli. Capillaries or the minute blood vessels are surrounded by small air sacs known as alveoli. There are over six hundred million alveoli in the human body.
Air taken in is supplied to the alveoli; the oxygen extracted from the air is dissolved in the blood. It's then the job of the red blood cells to distribute the oxygen to all body parts. Oxygen is vital for the proper functioning of a human body and insufficient supply of oxygen is going to damage the organs and can be life threatening. This functioning is disturbed when the lungs get infected by pneumonia.
Pneumonia doesn't allow the lungs to function properly since the infection produces fluid which obstructs the alveoli. In turn the oxygen doesn't penetrate deep inside the lungs and less oxygen is supplied to the blood. Breathing is affected and the condition worsens when both lungs get infected with pneumonia.
People of all ages, from infants to seniors, can come down with pneumonia. It's a myth that getting wet causes a person to catch pneumonia. It's actually the virus or the bacteria which causes the infection. When a person infected with flu or cold faces a deterioration in his/her condition, he/she can be infected with pneumonia. This happens due to the irritation caused by the flu or a cold helps the pneumonia germs to get into the lungs easily and move around to spread the infection.
The virus or bacteria which cause pneumonia can cause damage, whose severity depends on the health of the child. If the infection is caused by bacteria, the child will get sick quickly and can get high temperature fever accompanied along with chills. Pneumonia caused by virus develops very slowly and it takes longer time to go away. The child can also experiences cough, chest pain, headache, and or muscle ache. It can also make it difficult to breath, so a child will start to breath faster, which may make him cough out gloppy mucus. The child would have to totally abstain from eating.
When right treatment is available, a child will recover fully. Your doctor will first examine the heartbeat and breathing with the help of a stethoscope. A stethoscope helps check the lungs, the sounds made by the lungs help to determine if it contains any fluids. Sounds, such as crackling or bubbling, are indications of pneumonia. A chest X-ray will also be done.
White patchy areas show fluid buildup. By examining the X-ray, your doctor can also determine whether the infection is caused by bacteria or a virus. If it's caused by bacteria, antibiotics will be prescribed. If it's difficult for a child to swallow the medicine or to retain it inside, he/she will be injected with IV fluid.
If a virus is responsible for the infection, antibiotics won't work. Fever reducers, along with cough medicine, will be prescribed in these cases. Medicines will be of no use if the child doesn't take adequate rest and plenty of liquids.
Shots can prevent pneumonia. The series of shots are called pneumococcal. Regular flu shots can are helpful, especially for kids who have asthma or other kinds of lung infection. Rest and sleep also strengthens the immune system. Washing hands regularly helps keep harmful germs at bay.
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