Hello steemians, welcome back to @airhawkproject's health corner with Dr. @drepo15.
Thanks to all who looked up the health corner's introductory post and the comments especially from @estrellamag, @bcrafts and @aderonkemi.
As promised topics will be derived from comments dropped by users on each post.
Today we'll be looking at the issue raised by @aderonkemi
Reveal spoiler
Introduction
Pneumonia is simply an infection of the lungs by bacteria or viruses, leading to closure of the air sacs in the lungs where gaseous exchange take place.
source
Pneumonia affects humans of all ages but i'm giving particular attention to children as it causes most deaths amongst that age group, the UNICEF estimates 3 million deaths of children every year from pneumonia. Usually these deaths are seen in children with other co-existing diseases like congenital heart diseases, low immune states seen in HIV, Tuberculosis etc and chronic lung diseases of premature children. In 3rd world nations like Nigeria where i practice IGNORANCE and poor attitude to health by parents are also major causes.
The cause
As defined above it is an infection caused by bacteria or viruses which can be transmitted directly to the lungs (after bypassing the child's normal defense mechanisms) or from another site through the blood stream (e.g. measles). It can also be transmitted from a pregnant mother to an unborn child giving rise to a particular form seen in children within 24 hours of birth (congenital pneumonia).
It is important to note here that cold doesn't necessarily cause pneumonia as popularly believed.
The specific bacteria and viral causes were left out, so i don't bore you with highfalutin jargons.
Symptoms
These arise from a derangement of the normal gas exchange of the lungs caused by the infection. There is a reduction in the number of available air sacs, so the child struggles to breathe and seeing how common and deadly pneumonia is, it is important that symptoms are not taken for granted.
Symptoms vary in different age groups as follows
Neonates (children 0 - 30 days old)
They are irritable (i.e. the crying excessively and inconsolable) and don't feed well. Fast breathing, noisy breathing and chest retractions may also be seen. These children are too young to cough.
Infants (children between 1 month to 1 year)
These kids have cough as the most common symptom along with fast breathing, chest retraction , also fever (high body temperature), irritability and decreased feeding.
Adolecents
have similar smptoms with infants but also have headache, chest pain, vomiting, diarrhea, vague abdominal pain and sore throat.
Diagnosis
There is a gamut of investigations done ranging from blood work to radiologic investigations and this is the bane of a doctor's training, so i'll leave it at this as they already know what to do.
Treatment
Pneumonia as said already is a killer and hardly responds to self prescription or over the counter drugs, so its important to take the child with the symptoms above for proper treatment. The child may be admitted depending on the severity of the illness with intravenous infusions, antibiotics and Oxygen administered. However the outcome is usually good if the child comes early enough.
Prevention
As the popular saying goes prevention is better than cure and it's no less true in this subject. This is achieved by avoiding infectious contacts especially people with chronic cough and more importantly vaccination, which is the primary mode of prevention. Pneumonia vaccine has been included in the Pentavalent vaccine given to children routinely,
Conclusion
Childhood illnesses are painfully ignored and these children find it impossible to vocally say what's wrong and have to suffer for the negligence of care givers. Having said that, the outcome (prognosis) of childhood pneumonia is very good if properly handled and no child need die from pneumonia and my aim here is to bring about an awareness and help care givers to promptly identify symptoms and seek proper health care for children thereby avoiding unnecessary and avoidable death of children.
THANK YOU
Remember to ask your questions in the comment section below and you also get a chance to decide the next topic. The ailment with the most mention will be discussed in the subsequent post. If what you have in mind has been mentioned you can add your comment below it.
Let's keep the ball rolling.
Expecting your comments and questions.
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Wow, this is so detailed and quite explanatory.
Thanks so much for this.
So i was wondering if it is possible to talk about
I believe it happens more often than usual lately and most people dont even know about it
Thanks so much
noted boss
Prostate biopsy is actually a diagnostic procedure done to diagnose prostatic enlargement to see if it is benign (harmless) or malignant (harmful).
Prostatic enlargement is up for consideration
I am actually talking about
Blood in semen
Which prostrate biopsy happens to be the most common cause.
Blood in semen (hematospermia) is a possible complication of prostate biopsy and there are other causes as well.
Point taken
God bless you boss... Thanks sir
you guys @airhhawk-peoject and @drepo15 are doing a wonderful job, ride on.
thank you @pasaift
we won't be here without you
Do talk about dry orgasm
noted
@airhawk-project is really doing great, i love this and i am sure the world good women will also feel good to meet up with this kind of post.. Keep it up.
they sure will
no responsible mother will want to lose a child
Yes, exactly bro... Kudos to you
Oh God! This meant so much for me! My baby was just a month old when this terrible illness took it down! ..... The symptoms were just as you listed them here:
I just hope with this post, many children's death due to pneumonia would be prevented!
Thanks for this Doctor @drepo15. Your medical knowledge shall not go to drain!
Thsnk ypou @airhawk-project for creating an avenue to educate other through this blog!
Love always from @aderonkemi💕💕
This actually brought me close to tears.
When we see statistics like 3 million children dieing from pneumonia yearly it doesn't really ring a bell till it is someone close to us.
Never again will you have to mourn your child.
Better days ahead
Amen.... Thank you sir!
Hello Ronke! I'm really sorry for your loss. It's so sad reading this. I can just imagine what u went through psychologically and all. Take heart pls. It is well. Sweet rest to the dear one.
Thank to @airhawk-project and @drepo15 for baring pneumonia here. Knowledge is power. Please let's learn the lessons.
Superb lecture
Thanks @jeaniepearl
Good information, now we are can protect our children ... thanks Dokter Drepo.
Uwc @wandimaru
Protection is the word
Couldn't bear being a pediatrician and see children suffer for what ain't their making
Well articulated enlightenment. I am among the many Nigerians who strongly beleive that cold causes pnuemonia.
I've been taught to know that cold is the major causes of pnuemonia, I've passed that ignorance to many. I even stopped my younger ones from drinking cold water at some points in time.
My mum would always warn me about bathing with cold water in the morning. She will always ask me "if I want to catch pnuemonia".
Thank God for stumbling on this educative post, I hope I would be able to correct all the ignorance I've shared.
Foundation once destroyed, what can the just man do.
Oh jeez @hilltop
U gave me a really hard laugh
We all grew up with that myth and it is one of the many things medicine has made me unlearn.
This misconception is worldwide bro, just google it and u'll be amazed what you see.
Thanks for stopping by
Thanks for this, @drepo15 and @airhawk-project. This is very enlightening.
You are very right on this. Only God knows what uuntold ordeals little ones endure. I wish every parent would learn of this, wake up to the reality that they are the guardian of the their wards' destiny/fate and ultimately be on guard as well as take the necessary precautions concerning their wellbeing.
Yes ma'am
We all pray for responsible parents