Symptoms of pneumonia in infants

Written by Yang Feng
Pulmonology
Updated on October 28, 2024
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Pneumonia is a particularly common infectious disease of the respiratory system. In infants and young children with pneumonia, the main clinical symptoms include fever, crying, vomiting, and so forth. Since infants cannot express their discomfort, it is difficult to make a diagnosis. However, when a patient presents with fever, we first need to consider the possibility of a lung infection. We can determine whether there is an infection of the lungs through listening to the chest, routine blood tests, imaging examinations, etc., and then treat the pneumonia with effective anti-inflammatory therapy.

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What department does pneumonia go to?

What department should I go to for pneumonia? Pneumonia, as the name suggests, is a lung disease, which is to say it is a disease of our respiratory system. Therefore, the most appropriate department to visit would be the Department of Respiratory Medicine. If the patient's condition is relatively stable, they can visit the outpatient Respiratory Medicine department. Of course, there are a small number of patients whose condition is very critical, and in such cases, they must first visit the Department of Emergency Medicine. The doctors in Emergency Medicine will decide based on the patient's condition whether their next step should be to go to Respiratory Medicine, be admitted for in-hospital treatment, remain in the emergency for observation, or need to be admitted to the ICU for further emergency treatment.

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How many days does the novel pneumonia take to develop?

After being infected with the novel coronavirus pneumonia, symptoms generally appear within three to seven days, with the shortest onset reported within one day and the longest at 27 days. However, most patients develop symptoms within two weeks, typically exhibiting respiratory symptoms post-onset. The novel coronavirus primarily attacks the lower respiratory tract, including the trachea, bronchi, and lungs. Patients often experience recurring fever, with temperatures generally ranging between 38 to 39°C, lasting over 72 hours, accompanied by significant coughing. In the early stages, there is usually no noticeable expectoration, presenting as a dry cough. Most patients also experience significant fatigue. If the condition progresses, patients may suffer from shortness of breath and decreased blood oxygen saturation, leading to apparent respiratory distress. In severe cases, patients may experience respiratory failure and even death.

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What can you eat with pneumonia?

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Do you have a runny nose with pneumonia?

In clinical settings, pneumonia patients exhibit varying accompanying symptoms depending on the type of pneumonia. Particularly in very young infants, the early symptoms might primarily include nasal congestion, runny nose, sneezing, and even fever, without obvious coughing symptoms. In some newborns, pneumonia can be diagnosed through auscultation at this stage. In adults, certain types of pneumonia, such as those caused by viral infections, may not receive timely and effective anti-infective or antiviral treatment initially. In these cases, the condition can worsen and spread, leading to pneumonia, with some patients also experiencing symptoms of a runny nose. Of course, conditions like most cases of mycoplasma pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia, and lung abscesses that cause pulmonary inflammation usually do not involve a runny nose. Therefore, in clinical practice, if pneumonia is accompanied by a runny nose, it is usually due to specific circumstances of the illness.

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