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Pneumonia - Symptom
Alternative Names
Bronchopneumonia; Community-acquired pneumonia
Symptoms:
The main symptoms of pneumonia are:
- Cough with greenish or yellow mucus; bloody sputum happens on occasion
- Fever with shaking chills
- Sharp or stabbing chest pain worsened by deep breathing or coughing
- Rapid, shallow breathing
- Shortness of breath
- Headache
- Excessive sweating and clammy skin
- Loss of appetite
- Excessive fatigue
- Confusion, especially in older people
Signs and tests:
If you have pneumonia, you may be working hard to breathe, or may be breathing fast.
Crackles are heard when listening to your chest with a stethoscope. Other abnormal breathing sounds may also be heard through the stethoscope or via percussion (tapping on your chest wall).
The health care provider will likely order a chest x-ray if pneumonia is suspected.
Some patients may need other tests, including:
- Gram's stain and culture of your sputum to look for the organism causing your symptoms
- CBC to check white blood cell count; if high, this suggests bacterial infection
- Arterial blood gases to check how well you are oxygenating your blood
- CAT scan of the chest
- Pleural fluid culture if there is fluid in the space surrounding the lungs
- Reviewed last on: 4/14/2008
- Andrew Schriber, MD, FCCP, Specialist in Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, Virtua Memorial Hospital, Mount Holly, New Jersey. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
References
Limper AH. Overview of Pneumonia. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D. Goldman: Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 97.
Lutfiyya MN, Henley E, Chang LF, Reyburn SW. Diagnosis and treatment of community-acquired pneumonia. Am Fam Physician. 2006;73:442-450.
Hemilä H, Louhiala P. Vitamin C for preventing and treating pneumonia. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007;Jan 24(1):CD005532.
Committee on Infectious Diseases. Recommended immunization schedules for children and adolescents -- United States, 2008. Pediatrics. 2008;121:219-220.
Li JZ, Winston LG, Moore DH, Bent S. Efficacy of short-course antibiotic regimens for community-acquired pneumonia: a meta-analysis. Am J Med. 2007;120:783-790.
Mandell LA, Wunderink RG, Anzueto A, et al. Infectious Diseases Society of America/American Thoracic Society consensus guidelines on the management of community-acquired pneumonia in adults. Clin Infect Dis. 2007 Mar 1;44 Suppl 2:S27-72.
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