Pneumonia is a disease that is best knownknow only theoretically, as well as about any other. Especially when it comes to childhood pneumonia. It is unlikely that any parent knows exactly what this disease is. However, according to disappointing statistics, three out of five children have suffered from pneumonia at least once in their life. Most often, this disease lies in wait for a child at the most tender age - about two to three years old. Moreover, pneumonia symptoms in children are slightly different from those in adults. This is what will be discussed below. So, pneumonia: symptoms and treatment. Timely diagnosis of the disease and its treatment are very important, since pneumonia threatens not only the health, but also the life of the child. Pneumonia at the very beginning of the disease can be confused with acute bronchitis. However, in fact, they are radically different. With pneumonia, the tissues of the smallest parts of the lungs - the alveoli - are exposed to an acute inflammatory process. Alveoli are small bubbles that are located at the very ends of the bronchi. It is in the alveoli that air enters during breathing. The main process takes place in the alveoli – the exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen, which is necessary for all the cells of the body to be fully saturated with vital oxygen and get rid of carbon dioxide. In pneumonia, or as it is popularly called, inflammation of the lungs, the pathogen penetrates the alveoli, resulting in a severe inflammatory process. Exudate begins to accumulate in the alveoli – a liquid that complicates the normal process of gas exchange. The supply of oxygen to the child’s body is sharply reduced. As a result, the child develops hypoxia (oxygen starvation) of all vital systems and organs, which cannot but have the most negative impact on the child’s health. Moreover, the baby’s cardiovascular system suffers the most. That is why, if a child has acute pneumonia, treatment should be started immediately.

Causes of the disease with pneumonia

Causes of pneumonia in children andadults are different. In adults, pneumonia almost always develops as a completely independent disease. In children, in 90% of all cases, pneumonia is a complication of recent infections, such as acute respiratory infections or flu. As is known, in the nasopharynx of any person, both adults and children, there is always pathogenic microflora. While the human immune system is functioning properly, this pathogenic flora does not manifest itself in any way and does not cause any harm to the body. But if a child gets an acute respiratory infection, or something else, or even just when the body is overcooled, this pathogenic microflora is sharply activated. If the child also gets microbes from outside, the situation is significantly worsened and, as a result, pneumonia begins to develop in weaker children. The state of the child's immune system greatly affects whether the infection will develop into pneumonia or not. In addition, the age of the child plays a very important role. The younger the child, the higher the risk of developing pneumonia, and the course of the disease in infants is much more severe than at an older age. This fact is explained by the fact that the younger the child, the more pronounced are the age-related physiological characteristics that make the risk of pneumonia much higher. The development of the respiratory system has a particularly strong influence on the course of the disease. A child is born with a respiratory system that is not yet fully formed and mature. The baby's lung tissue is not mature, and the airways are narrower and thinner. Because of this, the process of gas exchange in the child's body is much less intense. And this circumstance significantly contributes to the development of all kinds of lung infections, in particular, pneumonia. The mucous membrane lining the respiratory tract is very delicate and abundantly supplied with numerous blood vessels. When attacked by pathogenic microflora, the mucous membranes instantly swell, thereby disrupting normal ventilation of the lungs. The ciliated epithelium lining the surface of the mucous membrane of the lungs suffers especially severely. The purpose of the ciliated epithelium is to remove sputum that occurs during lung diseases. And with pneumonia, this ability is completely lost, and sputum stagnates in the lungs. This significantly worsens the condition of the sick child and aggravates the course of the disease, since sputum is an excellent nutrient medium in which pathogenic microflora feels great and actively multiplies. This is what aggravates the course of the disease. In addition, there are a number of diseases that increase the risk of developing pneumonia and worsen its course. Doctors include the following diseases in such diseases:

• All kinds of hypotrophy.
• Iron deficiency anemia of any origin.
• All kinds of rickets.
• Any diseases affecting the central nervous system.
• All kinds of heart defects.
• All kinds of deficiency of the immune system.

Types of pneumonia in children

Despite the common causes of occurrencepneumonia and the principle of its course, doctors distinguish several types of the disease. Depending on which part of the lung is affected, and the types of pneumonia are distinguished. We will not bother readers with a detailed description of the anatomical structure of the lungs. In general, the structure of the lung looks like this: each lung is divided into equal lobes, and the lobes are subdivided into segments.

• Focal pneumonia in children.

In focal pneumonia, a small area of ​​the mucous membrane of the lungs is affected, no more than one centimeter in diameter.

• Segmental and polysergmental pneumonia.

Segmental pneumonia is the type of pneumonia thatoccurs as a result of the inflammatory process affecting an entire segment of the lungs. In polysegmental pneumonia, accordingly, the inflammation affects several segments of the lungs at once.

• Croupous pneumonia.

In lobar pneumonia, a whole lobe of the body suffers.lung. It goes without saying that the larger the part of the lung that is involved in the inflammatory process, the more severe the disease is and the more the child's health suffers. In addition, right-sided and left-sided pneumonia are distinguished. Here, everything is quite simple - depending on which side, right or left, the inflammatory process develops, pneumonia can be right-sided or left-sided.

Atypical pneumonia

Lately, parents are increasinglyhear such a definition as atypical pneumonia in children. However, not everyone knows what it is and how this disease differs from typical pneumonia. By the way, atypical pneumonia is more typical for children, but adults are practically not susceptible to this disease. These types of pneumonia differ primarily in the pathogens that cause the disease. By the way, in different age groups of children, the pathogens of pneumonia generally differ greatly. For example, in children of the first six months, the inflammatory process in the lungs is most often caused by pathogens such as E. coli, staphylococci and pneumococci. In children from 6 months to about five years of age, the development of pneumonia, in addition to the above pathogens, can be provoked by mycoplasma and chlamydia. It is those pneumonias that were caused by chlamydia and mycoplasmosis that doctors call atypical. Their course and treatment are different than in the case of ordinary pneumonia. Chlamydial and mycoplasmal pneumonia manifest themselves with symptoms similar to those of a common respiratory disease. The child develops a runny nose, sore throat, sneezing. And even the high temperature typical of pneumonia may not be there at all, and all blood test results remain unchanged. The child suffers from a dry, debilitating cough, more typical of acute bronchitis than pneumonia, which very often significantly complicates the diagnosis of the disease. And the nature of wheezing in the lungs is not at all typical of traditional pneumonia. Treatment of such atypical pneumonia also has its own characteristics. The causative agents of the disease do not react to all, but strictly to certain antibiotics. To determine sensitivity to antibiotics, it is necessary to conduct a special study of sputum. Only in this case will the treatment of pneumonia with antibiotics be successful.

Symptoms of SARS in children

Before we talk about the symptoms of inflammationlungs, we would like to remind our readers that they vary depending on what the pathogen was and the age of the child. Thus, in children of the first year of life, the symptoms of severe intoxication of the body are most pronounced:

• A significant increase in body temperature - up to about 39.5 degrees.

The peculiarities of pneumonia include the fact thatall attempts to reduce the temperature bring either a very short-term result or are completely useless. Although pneumonia in children without fever also occurs.

• Changing appetite.

With pneumonia, almost all childrenrefuse to eat. The baby may often ask to be breastfed, but it is unlikely that he will eat; he only needs the breast as a means of calming down. Lack of appetite in the smallest children should be a signal to the mother of serious health problems and a reason to immediately seek medical help.

• Violation of the central nervous system.

The behavior of a child with pneumonia,changes very much. The child may become lethargic, sleep much more than usual. But on the contrary, he may become very excited, cry a lot and be capricious. But typical symptoms of pneumonia, such as cough and chest pain, are almost completely absent in small children. Moreover, even the most experienced doctor - pulmonologist in the first 48 hours of the disease simply will not hear wheezing in the child's lungs, and an X-ray examination will also not allow identifying the source of inflammation. Because of this, early diagnosis of the disease is not possible, which subsequently negatively affects the course of the disease and significantly complicates the treatment of the child. However, despite all this, it is still possible to suspect the presence of pneumonia in small babies. An attentive mother will definitely notice changes in her baby's condition. If your child began to behave unusually - constantly sleeps, or, on the contrary, is capricious, his temperature has risen for no apparent reason, you should be wary.

Signs of pneumonia in a small child:

Child's breathing.An increase in the number of respiratory movements or, more simply, shortness of breath in young children is one of the main signs of the presence of inflammatory processes in the lungs. There are certain breathing norms, exceeding which may indicate that the child has pneumonia: In children under two months of age - 60 or more breaths per minute. In children aged two months to one year - 50 or more breaths per minute. In children over one year old - 40 or more breaths per minute.

Hyperthermia of the body.We have already mentioned above that an increase in body temperature caused by pneumonia is very difficult to eliminate even with pharmacological drugs. Any medicine lowers the temperature only for a very short time, after which it rises again. With hyperthermia caused by a common acute respiratory disease or even flu, such a phenomenon is not observed, the temperature is quite easy to bring down.

Cyanosis of the nasolabial triangle.Very often, in small children who have pneumonia, you can observe a blue discoloration of the skin area between the nose and lips - the nasolabial triangle. The blue discoloration is especially pronounced when the baby is sucking the breast.

Skin retraction.This symptom is almost a 100% indicator that the baby has an inflammatory process of the lungs. In order to determine whether your baby has a symptom of skin retraction into the spaces between the ribs, undress the baby and carefully observe how he breathes and whether the relief of the skin between the ribs changes.

Treatment of pneumonia in children

Doctors have standards for treating pneumonia.Treatment of pneumonia in children has the following goals: complete elimination of the source of inflammation and elimination of all symptoms of pneumonia, the so-called symptomatic treatment. It is the treatment of pneumonia that will be discussed below. However, remember that all information is of a general nature only and should in no way be a guide to action for parents. All treatment should be prescribed only by your child's attending physician - after all, he knows exactly how to treat pneumonia in children. And it is even more unacceptable to use folk recipes for the treatment of pneumonia. This is explained by the fact that treating pneumonia with folk remedies will not bring any effect, but precious time can be irretrievably lost. To eliminate the source of inflammation, doctors use treatment with a course of antibiotics. Of course, very few parents will be delighted to hear that their child will have to undergo a course of antibiotics. However, in the case of pneumonia, it is simply impossible to do without antibiotics. What antibiotics are needed for pneumonia in children, and in what dose they are needed for your child, can only be accurately determined by the attending physician. Symptomatic treatment aimed at eliminating the symptoms of the disease and easing the child's well-being is also very important. As pharmacological drugs for symptomatic treatment, the doctor prescribes mucolytic agents to the child, which facilitate the discharge of sputum, as well as antipyretic drugs. By the way, speaking about temperature, I would like to remind parents once again of the old hackneyed truth - do not bring down the temperature immediately as soon as the mercury column goes over 37 degrees. Elevated temperature is the body's way of fighting pathogenic microflora and, by bringing it down, you reduce the body's defenses, thereby helping pathogenic bacteria to multiply. The child's temperature should be brought down only if it exceeds 39 degrees. The only exceptions to this rule are very young children under one year of age, as well as those children who have previously had attacks of subfebrile convulsions. The purpose of prescribing mucolytic drugs to a child is to facilitate the removal of sputum from the bronchi. In addition, many modern mucolytic drugs significantly enhance the effect and activity of antibiotics used to treat pneumonia. We will not give the names of the mucolytic drugs used, since they should also be prescribed only by your child's doctor. Despite the apparent harmlessness of such drugs, their improper use can lead to the most unpredictable consequences.

In the hospital or at home?

When I heard that my child had pneumonia, the first thing I did wasthe thought that comes to parents is: “is it really a hospital?” When deciding whether a child needs to be hospitalized or whether pneumonia can be treated at home, the doctor takes into account several key factors:

• Age of the sick child.

As a rule, if there is inflammationa child under three years of age falls ill with pneumonia, the doctor suggests that the mother undergo treatment in a hospital. This is explained very simply - at such a tender age, complications of pneumonia can be very unpredictable, up to and including respiratory arrest. In order to prevent this, the child must be under round-the-clock medical supervision until complete recovery. Pneumonia in infants is a serious threat to the baby's life.

• General health of the child.

In the event that pneumonia occursan older child, when deciding on the need for hospitalization, the doctor takes into account the general condition of the child. If he suffers from any chronic diseases, or simply has a weakened immune system, the doctor may also prefer to treat pneumonia in a hospital, despite his older age.

• The severity of the course of the disease and the type of pneumonia.

No less important role in choosing a place of treatmentplays a role in the type of pneumonia. For example, treating focal pneumonia at home is not particularly difficult, but treating lobar pneumonia at home is simply dangerous. The doctor will also assess the general condition of the sick child, since all children are very different - for some, lobar pneumonia is quite mild, while for others, simple focal pneumonia causes an extremely serious condition. There is no need to talk about treating pneumonia in newborns - only immediate hospitalization.

Child care at home

Most often, the child receives the necessary treatment.at home. However, in addition to the medications needed to treat pneumonia, the child must also receive the necessary proper care, nutrition, and drinking regimen to recover. All these measures will help the baby get back on his feet as quickly as possible. This is what will be discussed below.

• Diet of a sick child.

Despite the fact that a sick child shouldreceive light food that does not contain any hard-to-digest foods, it should still be complete and high in calories. It is advisable to include lean meat, such as chicken or beef, a variety of fruits and vegetables in the diet of a sick child.

• Drinking regimen of a sick child.

Proper drinking regime is very important fora child with pneumonia. Firstly, due to the high temperature, dehydration is very likely to develop, which will significantly worsen the child's condition and make the course of the disease much more severe. And, secondly, a large amount of fluid in the body increases the secretion of sputum and facilitates its discharge. A child over three years old, sick with pneumonia, should drink at least three liters of liquid per day. All kinds of fruit juices, alkaline mineral water and regular milk are very useful for a child to drink. However, please note that mineral water intended for small children should be non-carbonated, otherwise there is a very high risk of developing intestinal colic.

• Feeding of infants with pneumonia.

The fact that a child with pneumonia,should drink as much as possible, and this is also true for babies. Children under one year of age need to drink at least 150 milliliters of liquid per day for every kilogram of the child's weight. Although, in fairness, it should be said that only mothers of children who are bottle-fed can track the amount of liquid they drink. It is almost impossible for a mother who is breastfeeding to track the amount of milk her child drinks. The only way is to check for milk, but it is unlikely that a sick baby, whose health is already poor, will like to be constantly put on the scales. Therefore, a different principle applies to infants to determine whether they have enough liquid. If the child is actively sucking, has no shortness of breath, and urination is normal, then the baby is getting enough milk. If the child is lethargic, apathetic, does not want to suck, then the mother needs to give the baby more water from a spoon. However, given that such tiny children are treated in a hospital, the doctor will closely monitor the child's condition, and if necessary, fluid will be administered intravenously. Also, for successful treatment, it is very important that the child stays in bed throughout the entire period of illness. Of course, keeping a child in bed is not so easy, but it is worth trying to do so. In addition, monitor the cleanliness of both bed linen and underwear - after all, a sick baby sweats quite a lot. Also, make sure that the temperature in the room is comfortable enough for the child - about 20 degrees. Regularly ventilate the room in which the sick child is located, but avoid drafts.

Therapeutic exercises with pneumonia

During pneumonia, it is extremelybreathing exercises can have a positive effect on the child's condition. They not only speed up the child's recovery, but also help to avoid many complications that pneumonia often entails. Children can cope with this exercise starting from about three years of age. Therapeutic exercises begin with the simplest thing - turning the sick child in bed. They must be done from the first hours after the onset of the disease. Most often, pneumonia is accompanied by intense pain in the chest area, on the side where the lung affected by the inflammatory process is located. And children intuitively prefer to lie on the opposite side all the time to reduce the intensity of pain. However, such lying on one side is fraught with the development of adhesive processes and, ultimately, the formation of pleural adhesions. It is necessary to constantly turn the child from one side to the other, and also periodically lay him on his back. You should not rely on the child in this matter, even if he is already a teenager - try to control the process yourself. Approximately on the third day after the onset of the disease, it is necessary to begin the second stage of gymnastics - breathing. The child should put his hands on his stomach and take deep breaths. The exercise should be repeated at least fifteen times in a row. After the child begins to recover from the disease and get up, it is necessary to begin doing the next exercise. The child should take a deep breath, slowly raising his arms, lowering his arms, the child should exhale. This exercise should be repeated at least ten times.

Duration of treatment of pneumonia. Forecast

What will be the duration of treatment?pneumonia, depends on many individual characteristics of the child's body, including age, type of pneumonia and severity of the disease. As a rule, in uncomplicated cases of pneumonia, antibiotics last an average of 7 - 10 days. If pneumonia is severe, accompanied by various complications, or we are talking about atypical pneumonia, treatment can take quite a long time. It can be two weeks or even a month - the duration of treatment can only be determined by the doctor treating your child. With timely medical care, uncomplicated course of the disease and proper treatment, the prognosis for pneumonia is generally favorable. Full recovery most often occurs within a month. But if medical care is not provided in a timely manner, the consequences of pneumonia in children can be quite serious. To summarize the conversation, it is worth reminding parents of the basic rules: parents should seek medical help at the first signs of even a common respiratory infection, especially when it comes to very young children under three years of age. But older children should also receive medical care as quickly as possible. But we hope that all the information you learn today will never be useful to you in practice. We recommend reading:

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