Children cough, not only parents and children can not sleep well, if the child coughs badly, parents will also worry about whether they are infectedpneumonia. What exactly is pneumonia? How can I tell if my child’s cough is caused by pneumonia?
Does the child havepneumonia?Three symptom judgment
Pneumonia is inflammation of the lung tissue. Pneumonia can be caused by a viral infection, a bacterial infection or, less commonly, a fungal infection, and most childhood pneumonias are caused by a viral infection.
How is bacterial pneumonia different from viral pneumonia?Bacterial-infected pneumonia is generally limited to local areas, such as the lower left lung, while viral-infected pneumonia is mostly spread across both lungs, such as pneumonia caused by influenza virus or new coronavirus. Of course, there are exceptions, such as pneumonia caused by atypical bacterial infections.
How does pneumonia spread? Like the common cold, germs are generally spread through the saliva that people cough up. In rich, developed countries, children are much less likely to get pneumonia than in developing countries, because widespread vaccination against pneumonia has greatly reduced pneumonia cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in children under the age of five.
In addition to bacterial infection, another cause of pneumonia in young children is aspiration pneumonia. It refers to the patient choking and inhaling the acidic substances in the stomach into the lungs, causing the bacteria in the stomach to infect the lungs. Aspiration pneumonia is common in children with frequent acid reflux, cranial nerve or chewing problems.
Is pneumonia seasonal? Like all coughs, pneumonia is more common in the cold winter months. There may be many reasons for this, such as the influenza virus is more active in winter, the virus spreads more quickly in low humidity and dry winter, the chance of people gathering indoors in cold weather is higher, and so on.
How to tell if a child’s cough is pneumonia?It has three important symptoms: fever, cough and shortness of breath.Infants may not have obvious symptoms, such as reduced milk supply, crying uncomfortably, and some even have a fever and no other symptoms. Older children such as those over the age of 10 may experience chest pains.
Is pneumonia a dangerous lung disease?
Since many viruses or bacteria can cause pneumonia, treating a child’s pneumonia must first determine whether it is a bacterial infection or a viral infection. Generally, during the clinical auscultation examination of the doctor, you can hear whether there is a murmur in the child’s lungs, so as to know whether it is local or non-local pneumonia.
The bacteria that infect newborn babies, children 1-5 years old and children over 5 years old are different, and doctors can prescribe antibiotics according to different ages. But antibiotics or anti-inflammatory drugs only work against bacterial pneumonia, not viral infections. This is why virus-infected pneumonia generally can only be recovered by immunity.
How can I tell if my child’s pneumonia is severe enough to require hospitalization?
• Observe the frequency of your child’s breathing, which is more accurate when the child calms down or falls asleep. For example, infants should breathe less than 60 times per minute within 2 months, 50 times within 2 months to 1 year old, and 40 times less than 1 to 5 years old.
• In addition to the rate of breathing, observe the rise and fall of the child’s chest when breathing and whether the sternum (between the ribs) sinks when breathing.
• Babies who wheeze when breathing and sometimes rock their head back and forth are all signs of difficulty breathing.
• Whether the child’s lips turn purple and lack oxygen.
If the above is not easy for parents to judge, then observe whether the child has an appetite to eat and drink without fever,Check your child for chapped lips, how often they urinate, etc. If the face is pale, the spirit is not good, and the child is not as active and active as usual, it may be that the child is hypoxic and dehydrated. If it is a severe condition, you must see a doctor or go to the hospital immediately.
If the doctor has prescribed anti-inflammatory drugs, pneumonia caused by general bacterial infection, if the anti-inflammatory drugs are effective, the symptoms will be relieved within 2 to 3 days, that is, the fever will subside, and the shortness of breath will also recover. The cough will take longer to recover.
In fact, in developed countries, there are very few children who are seriously ill with pneumonia and need to be hospitalized. Of course, if the child has lung diseases, such as asthma, cerebral palsy, and children with feeding tubes, special care should be taken. The most effective way to prevent this is to vaccinate your child on time.
About the Author:Huang Yanyaophysician
Huang Yanyao(Grace Yen Hoong Ooi, MD), MD, Pediatrics, Clinical Professor and Attending Physician of Pediatrics at Lower Cornell Hospital and NYU Lutheran Hospital, New YorkHappiness PediatricsClinic director. Graduated from Harvard Medical School and McGill University in Canada.Happy Pediatrics Clinic website
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