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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

Additional symptoms include:

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

Pneumococcal pneumonia

Respiratory system

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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