Pneumonia Health Article

Transmission

Pneumonia is not usually passed from one person to another. The bacterial and viral organisms that cause pneumonia, however, can be transmitted through airborne or direct contact.

Demographics

Every year in the United States, two million people of all ages develop pneumonia, including 4 percent of all the children in the country. It is the sixth most common disease leading to death and the fourth leading cause of death in the elderly; 40,000 to 70,000 people die from pneumonia each year. The incidence of pneumonia in children younger than one year of age is 35 to 40 per 1,000; 30 to 35 per 1,000 children ages two to four; and 15 per 1,000 children between ages five and nine. Fewer than 10 children in 1,000 over age nine are reported to develop pneumonia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the number of deaths from pneumonia in the United States declined between 2001 and 2004.

Causes and symptoms

The list of organisms that can cause pneumonia is lengthy and includes nearly every class of infecting organism: viruses, bacteria, bacteria-like organisms, fungi, and parasites (including certain worms). Different organisms are more frequently encountered by different age groups, and other individual characteristics may increase risk for infection by particular types of organisms:

• Viruses cause the majority of pneumonias in young children, especially respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza and influenza viruses, and adenovirus.
• Adults are more frequently infected with bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Staphylococcus aureus.
• Pneumonia in older children and young adults is often caused by the bacteria-like Mycoplasma pneumoniae, the cause of pneumonia that is often called "walking" pneumonia.
• Pneumocystis carinii causes pneumonia in immunosuppressed individuals such as patients being treated with chemotherapy or people with AIDS. Classically considered a parasite, it appears to be more related to fungi.
• Chlamydia psittaci can be infective in some individuals, such as poultry farm workers, who have direct contact with bird droppings.

Pneumonia is suspected in a child who has symptoms such as fever, cough, chest pain, difficulty breathing (shortness of breath or dyspnea), and an increased number of breaths per minute (respiration). Fever with a shaking chill is even more suspicious. Mucus production is typically increased and leaky capillaries in the lungs may tinge the mucus with blood. The alveoli fill further with fluid and debris from the large number of white blood cells being produced to fight the infection. Children may cough up clumps of sputum or phlegm, secretions produced in the alveoli during the infection or inflammatory condition. These clumps may appear streaked with pus or blood. In severe pneumonia, mucus plugs and the accumulation of fluid together decrease the efficiency of gas exchange in the lung, resulting in signs of oxygen deprivation. Reduced oxygen levels in the blood may produce a blue appearance of the nail beds or lips (cyanosis).

Diagnosis

Diagnosis is based on the parents' report of the onset of illness and the symptoms that have developed, combined with examination of the chest. Physical examination may indicate labored breathing. Listening with a stethoscope may reveal abnormal crackling sounds (rales), and tapping on the back, which normally yields a resonant sound due to air filling the alveoli, may yield a dull thump if the alveoli are filled with fluid and debris.

Laboratory diagnostic tests may include staining sputum samples on a glass slide and looking at the stained specimen under a microscope to determine if white cells, red cells, or bacteria are present. Identification of the specific type of bacteria may require culturing the sputum, a microbiological technique that identifies disease-causing bacterial organisms in infected material. A small sample of sputum will be streaked on a special plate filled with medium that allows the specific organism to be grown in the laboratory under certain conditions. The bacteria can then be identified and, by performing antibiotic sensitivity tests on the bacteria, appropriate treatment can usually be prescribed. In addition, oxygen and carbon dioxide levels may be measured (blood gases) and the exchange evaluated (oximetry).

If pneumonia is present, a rapid rate of respiration may be noted; tachypnea is defined as a respiratory rate over 50 respirations per minute in infants younger than one year. Older children will have tachypnea if the respiratory rate is greater than 40 per minute.

X-ray examination of the chest may reveal certain abnormal changes associated with pneumonia. Localized shadows obscuring areas of the lung may indicate a bacterial pneumonia, while streaky or patchy changes in the x-ray film may indicate viral or mycoplasma pneumonia. These changes on x ray, however, are known to lag in time behind actual symptoms.