Pneumonia symptoms and back pain

There are not a lot of people in the world who have not heard of pneumonia. Those who do not know what it is should know that it is an infection of the lungs. This infection can be caused by bacteria, virus or fungi. However, in most cases of pneumonia it is a certain bacteria called Streptococcus pneumonia that caused the infection. There are no people of certain age who are struck by this infection but pneumonia can be fatal for babies and old people. There are lots of symptoms of this infection but probably the most common one is back pain.

Causes

The bacteria that causes pneumonia gets mixed with air every time a person who is already suffering from pneumonia sneezes or coughs. This way, a healthy person will get infected if he or she inhales that air. Another way to get infected with pneumonia is for the bacteria which are already present in the mouth or nose to go into the lungs. In addition to this, people who recently suffered from a certain viral infection or some lung or heart disease are at greater risk of ending up with pneumonia. People who smoke cigarettes also have a greater chance of contracting pneumonia.

Symptoms

First of all, people should know that the symptoms of pneumonia are not that different from those of influenza or flu. Apart from these a person should look for some other signs like shortness of breath, chest and back pain, fast or shallow breathing, increased heartbeat, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and fatigue. Children who suffer from pneumonia will show these symptoms but some others as well. Some of these other symptoms are lack of energy and appetite and low breathing rate. On the other hand, older people will not show some other symptoms of pneumonia, for instance confusion or delirium.

Pneumonia symptoms: back pain

It is not uncommon for people to mix pneumonia with bronchitis due to the fact that the symptoms are the same. However, back and chest pain are not seen in bronchitis, just in pneumonia. The main reason why people experience back pain as one of the symptoms is because in case of pneumonia it is the lungs that are affected.

The emergence of COVID?19, caused by the SARS?CoV?2 virus, has created a global pandemic and strained our entire healthcare system around the world. As the medical community continues to learn more about this highly contagious disease, the most common cause for hospitalization is severe respiratory distress. As a result there is propagation of the inflammatory process, vascular relaxation, and vasodilation. More specifically, COVID?19 can cause pulmonary and systemic inflammation leading to multi?organ dysfunction resulting in:

acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS),
venous thrombus embolism (VTE),
one study in the North?of?France outlined the increased prevalence of pulmonary embolisms in ICU patients with COVID?19 during their hospitalization.

✓ Fact confirmed: COVID?19 pneumonia with back pain: Presentation of an acute pulmonary embolism associated with novel coronavirus infection in an outpatient setting Kenyani Davis; 04 August 2020

Treatment

The doctors cannot make a diagnosis based just on back pain. In case there are some other symptoms, the patient will undergo a blood test and an X-ray. The treatment plant depends on the cause. Certain antibiotics are known to be quite effective in treatment of pneumonia.