The pneumonia is an inflammatory illness of the lungs caused by an infection.

The pneumonia (or pneumonia) is a severe and very frequent illness, which affects 1 of every 100 persons every year. IT CAN BE CAUSED BY MULTIPLE DIFFERENT MICROORGANISMS, and his severity changes between light and critical.

The pneumonias usually qualify in 2 big groups:

1) Acquired in the community (or extrahospitable). The most typical are the pneumonia neumocócica and the pneumonia for Mycoplasma.

2) Hospitable pneumonias. They tend to be much more serious, since the mechanisms of defense of the guest are usually affected and the causative MICROORGANISMS are usually much more resistant.

Inside the pneumonias, multiple different syndromes exist, changing according to the way of producing the infection and the causative MICROORGANISM to him. Some of these syndromes are:

- Pneumonia for aspiration. The one that takes place like result of the aspiration of the gastric content in the lungs. It can happen in situations of loss of conscience, commas, etc.

- Bacterial pneumonias not neumocócicas. Most of the extrahospitable pneumonias them causes the pneumococcus, but also they can happen for many other bacteria, some of them with many potential complications:

• Mycoplasma pneumoniæ
• Coxiella burnetti (Fever Q)
• Chlamidia psittachi (Psittacosis)
• Klebsiella pneumoniæ
• Legionnaire's disease pneumoniæ …

- Viral pneumonias (pneumonia). Many viruses can produce pneumonia (one usually speaks about "pneumonia" in these cases): Flu, chicken pox - zóster, or citomegalo-virus (CMV), for example.

- Pneumonias for protozoans. The most serious is the produced one by Pneumocystis carinii, which affects especially the patients with AIDS and to other inmunodeprimidos.

The symptoms and the most typical signs of pneumonia are:

• Fever, shakes and sudoración.
• Productive cough, with mucous, yellowish expectoration, of salmon-colored color, purulent … (according to the causative MICROORGANISM).
• Thoracic pain that it increases on having breathed and to cough.
• Headache.
• Muscular pains and you will articulate.
• Lacking in appetite, weakness and general discomfort.
• Shortness of breath (make difficult to breathe), in some cases.
• Crackling death rattles to the pulmonary sounding, in the affected area.

Physical examination. Crackling death rattles to the pulmonary sounding, in the affected area.

Thorax radiography. Typical X-ray signs.

Cultivation. The isolation in the blood, sputum or other textiles gives the definitive diagnosis of the causative MICROORGANISM.

– It consists of the administration of antibiotics, which election, dose and route of administration will depend on the causative MICROORGANISM.

– The antibiotics are not effective in the viral neumonítis; in some of them antiviral specifics can be used.

– The support measurements include oxygen, liquids and physical therapy to expel secretions.

The patients with not complicated sharp pneumonia usually recover in 2-3 weeks with the correct treatment. Nevertheless, very serious complications can happen, especially in age patients or with weakening illnesses. The two most fearsome complications are:

• Respiratory mistake (or cardio-respiratory) sharp.
• Empiema (Pus in the pleura).