Pneumonia Due to Other Germs
Author: mzPOTTER
Pneumonia due to other germs
Over recent years, advances in microbiology, were identifying other bacteria and other microorganisms that cause pneumonia, which needed antibiotics other than those used in classical pneumococcal pneumonia, and clinical suspicion which could be supported on data medical history. So we have:
- In the alcoholic patients, dazzled and poor dental hygiene should be suspected aspiration pneumonia, and the presence of anaerobic bacteria.
- In patients with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), are common to both pneumococcal pneumonia as Hemophilus influenza.
- In intravenous drug users should be suspected Staphylococcus infections, particularly virulent.
- In the pneumonia following a bout of flu, is often found Staphylococcus.
- It is very common for pneumonia to occur in the immediate postoperative period, especially after abdominal surgery, are due to gram-negative bacteria.
- Pneumonia in intubated patients undergoing mechanical ventilation in the ICU, is a feared complication. Depends somewhat on the particular plant that is in the ICU, but are often germs of Pseudomonas and Serratia type, with great resistance to antibiotics and difficult to manage.
- Respiratory infections that appear in the early stages of untreated HIV infection usually caused by Pneumocystis carinii or tuberculosis. The introduction of modern treatments of AIDS has greatly improved the situation.
- In patients transplanted under immunosuppression and high doses of corticosteroids are common Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (Septrim prophylaxis has improved the situation), or cytomegalovirus.
- Patients with hematologic malignancies, or serious dysfunction of bone marrow toxicity or chemotherapy with severe immunosuppression
That is, when pneumonia is diagnosed based on a compatible clinical and condensation on the chest radiograph, it must make a comprehensive medical history for risk factors for particular bacteria, and an assessment of severity in relation of the above mentioned age, comorbidities, length, etc..
The patient can be treated on an outpatient basis, with one or more antibiotics chosen empirically, without doing further research (but with a follow up to 48 hours) or require hospital admission and make a multitude of research and analysis, trying to identify the seed as soon as possible. This identification allows to establish the most appropriate antibiotic treatment to the case (blood, sputum culture, sexology, trastorácicas punctures, bronchoscopy with protected catheter, lung biopsies, etc.).