Causes of Treament Plans of Pneumonia (Essay Sample)

Name
Subject
Date
Community acquired pneumonia
Definition
Pneumonia is a lung infection affecting parenchyma. Community-acquired pneumonia refers to pneumonia acquired outside of hospitals or extended-care facilities. The signs and symptoms of acute pneumonia develop over hours to days, whereas the clinical presentation of chronic pneumonia often evolves over weeks to months.
* Physical findings
Clinical syndromes characterizing pneumonic infections caused by various agents often overlap one another therefore because inter observer variability regarding physical findings of pneumonia is high; the diagnosis of pneumonia can be challenging and not realized easily.  In general, typical bacterial pathogens such as S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae, usually manifest acutely with high fever, chills, tachypnea, tachycardia, and productive cough. 
*  Symptoms
The common symptoms of community acquired pneumonia are:
The main symptoms are:
Patients with community-acquired pneumonia often present with cough, fever, chills, fatigue, dyspnea, rigors, and pleuritic chest pain:
* Cough  usually with some pneumonias the cough comes with greenish or yellow mucus, or even bloody mucus.
* Fever, which may be mild or high
* Shaking chills
* Shortness of breath which may only occur when one climbs stairs or exerts
Other symptoms include
* Confusion, especially in older people
* Excess sweating and clammy skin
* Headache
* Loss of appetite, low energy, and fatigue
* Malaise (not feeling well)
* Sharp or stabbing chest pain that gets worse when you breathe deeply or cough
* White nail syndrome, or leukonychia
* Diagnostic tests
Radiography
Chest radiography has been shown to be a critical component in diagnosing pneumonia. The guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of adults with community acquired pneumonia is that all patients with suspected to have the bacteria should have a chest radiograph to establish the diagnosis and identify complications (pleural effusion, multilobar disease).Chest radiography may reveal a lobar consolidation, which is common in typical pneumonia; or it could show bilateral, more diffuse infiltrates than those commonly seen in atypical pneumonia. However, chest radiography performed early in the course of the disease could be negative.
Laboratory tests
The common laboratory tests for pneumonia includes leukocyte count, sputum Gram stain, two sets of blood cultures, and urine antigens. However, the validity of these tests has recently been questioned after low positive culture rates were found e.g., culture isolates of S. pneumonia were present in only 40 to 50 percent of cases. Such low positive culture rates are likely due to problems with retrieving samples from the lower respiratory tract, previous administration of antibiotics, contamination from the upper airways, faulty separation of sputum from saliva when streaking slides or plates, or viral etiology.
* Common pathogens
¯ S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae, C. pneumoniae, and M. pneumoniaeare the most common bacterial causes. Pneumonias caused by chlamydia and mycoplasma are often clinically indistinguishable from other pneumonias. Common viral agents include respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), adenovirus, influenza viruses, metapneumovirus, and parainfluenza viruses. Bacterial superinfection can make distinguishing viral from bacterial infection difficult.
¯ C. pneumoniae accounts for 2 to 5% of community-acquired pneumonia and is the 2nd most common cause of lung infections in healthy people aged 5 to 35 yr. C. pneumoniae is commonly responsible for outbreaks of respiratory infection within families, in college dormitories, and in military training camps. It causes a relatively benign form of pneumonia that infrequently requires hospitalization. Chlamydia psittacipneumonia (psittacosis) is rare and occurs in patients who own or are often exposed to birds.
* Treatment plan
For efficient treatment in hospital, one receives
* Fluids and...