Pneumonia Medicine Research Paper


Pneumonia
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Institution
Introduction
Pneumonia is ranked as the main cause of several deaths in the US, mostly for elderly people. In 2006 a total of 55,477 people died of pneumonia in US alone (Miranda, 2010). Pneumonia affects people of all ages including young children as scientist note that the disease is the fourth leading cause of death in elderly people having killed about 40,000- 70,000 in the past decade. Globally, a total of 1,000 children die from pneumonia every year. Overall a total of 2million people die of pneumonia each year in US.
Definition
Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs caused by organisms characterized by swollen lungs, tissues being merged followed by other complications including cough, difficulties in breathing and fever. It develops due to other existing medical conditions or infection especially when the immune system is not strong. If someone has contracted pneumonia his lungs are swollen with pus and liquids, limiting the flow of oxygen from entering into to the blood stream. Without enough oxygen in the blood body cells cannot work as required. To understand how pneumonia affects body system, understanding the role of respiratory system is important. It contains defenses that protect the body from receiving dangerous organisms that might affect the body function. However, if several organisms enter the body, the body defenses are overpowered, leading to infection like pneumonia (Fundukian, 2011).
Causes
Pneumonia can be caused by several organisms that are either viruses, bacteria, fungi or parasites depending on the age groups. For children, pneumonia is mainly caused by virus, while in adults the most common cause is bacteria. However, pneumonia is cause by mycoplasma pneumonia is the most common type affecting children and people below forty years (Fundukian, 2011).
Symptoms
Anyone who has fever, chest pains, shortness of breath or increase in breathing is suspected to have pneumonia. In treating the disease, physicians will depend on the patient’s description of the condition, but this is done in combination with a chest examination. Chest examination is conducted using a stethoscope to determine any unusual sound at the patient back to determine if there is air filling. Furthermore, laboratory test needs to be conducted to examine the presence of bacterial pneumonias. X-ray examination can also help identify any changes related to pneumonia on the chest. X-ray determines the viral pneumonia. In other circumstances the doctor may observe the airways to remove small pieces of tissue for further investigation at the laboratory. If the cause if not clearly concluded the doctor will conduct other tests (Miranda, 2010).
Treatment
Before penicillin was disc...