|
Bacterial pneumonia can attack anyone from infants through the very old. Alcoholics, the debilitated, post-operative patients, people with respiratory diseases or viral infections and people who have weakened immune systems are at greater risk.
Pneumonia bacteria are present in some healthy throats. When body defenses are weakened in some way, by illness, old age, malnutrition, general debility or impaired immunity, the bacteria can multiply and cause serious damage. Usually, when a person's resistance is lowered, bacteria work their way into the lungs and inflame the air sacs.
The tissue of part of a lobe of the lung, an entire lobe, or even most of the lung's five lobes becomes completely filled with liquid (this is called "consolidation"). The infection quickly spreads through the bloodstream and the whole body is invaded.
The streptococcus pneumoniae is the most common cause of bacterial pneumonia. It is one form of pneumonia for which a vaccine is available. Your body's immune system usually keeps bacteria from infecting your lungs. In pneumonia, bacteria reproduce in your lungs, while your body tries to fight off the infection. This response to bacterial invaders is called inflammation.
Bacterial pneumonia develops when bacteria that normally live harmlessly in the throat enter the lungs. This usually happens when the body's immune system is weakened in some way. This usually occurs after an upper respiratory infection, such as influenza. The lungs are damaged enough to allow the bacteria to infect the area. Bacterial pneumonia is usually caused by bacteria called either pneumococcus or streptococcus pneumoniae.
When the inflammation occurs in the alveoli (microscopic air sacs in the lungs), they fill with fluid. Your lungs become less elastic and cannot take oxygen into the blood, or remove carbon dioxide from the blood, as efficiently as usual. When the alveoli don't work efficiently, your lungs have to work harder to satisfy your body's need for oxygen. This causes the feeling of being short of breath, which is one of the most common symptoms of pneumonia. Inflammation causes many of the other symptoms, including fever and chest pain.
Pneumonia can be very serious, because it directly interferes with your body's ability to exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen. Pneumonia is different in this way from acute bronchitis, which is another disease that can cause fever, cough, chest pain, and shortness of breath. Bronchitis is caused by inflammation in the air passages (called bronchi) leading to the alveoli, not the alveoli themselves. Sometimes it is very difficult, even for a doctor, to tell pneumonia and bronchitis apart. The symptoms and physical examination can be identical. Sometimes a chest x-ray is the only way to tell the 2 apart.
Pneumococcal pneumonia occurs only in the lobar form. When a person's resistance is lowered, bacteria invade the lungs and inflame the air sacs. The tissue of part of a lobe of the lung, an entire lobe, or even most of all the five lobes, becomes completely filled with liquid matter. The infection quickly spreads through the bloodstream and the bacteria infects the whole body. It is the only form of pneumonia for which a vaccine is available.
Bacterial Pneumonia Causes
Bactrial Pneumonia Symptoms
Bacterial Pneumonia Diagnosis and Treatment
| 