Clinical diagnosis of pneumonia involves examination of the respiratory activity and a careful screening of your chest. Your treating physician may decide on the treatment plan based on the severity as well as signs of your lung condition. If this condition is caused by a bacterial strand, antibiotics or antibacterial drugs are prescribed. In such cases, it becomes important to know the meds – belonging to the antibiotic genre – used for treating pneumonia.
In excess of 390 million people – all over the world – stand affected by the onset of pneumonia every year. Of the various types of pneumonia, the lobar version of it affects sections of lungs known as lobes. It is known to show up in four distinctive stages, namely – congestion, red heptalisation, grey heptalisation and resolution.
In the congestion stage, the bacterial spread outnumbers the white cells of your lungs. Your lungs may turn red due to an extra supply of blood to this region. You may witness swelling of respiratory tissues in this stage. In the 2nd stage of red heptalisation, infected lung become dried up and the tissues may resemble those of the liver. In the 3rd stage, of grey heptalisation, lungs become grey and the red cells of blood and fibrin blend to produce a liquid form. The final stage is resolution wherein you end up coughing up the debris. Your lungs as well as air sacs return to their original proportion at the end of this stage.
What types of antibiotic drugs are used for treat pneumonia?
There are many forms of antibacterial drugs used for treating pneumonia; the type of infection and its severity influence the medication / dosage plan. Also, parameters such as your body weight, age, gender, prior / known allergies to antibacterial meds, etc. play a leading role in deciding the type of antibiotic.
As first line treatment, your physician may choose macrolide antibiotic meds such as clarithromycin, azithromycin, etc. Based on severity levels, your physician may choose drugs belonging to a genre known as fluoroquinolone antibiotic meds; drugs such as levofloxacin fall under this group. In some cases, your physician may use beta- lactam meds like amoxicillin combined with a macrolide drug such as clavulanate.
Apart from meds, shots are also administered for the prevention of pneumonia. Most of the shots used are found to be effective on Streptococcus pneumoniae – a unique bacterial strand. Your caregiver or pharmacist may tell you to adhere to social distancing protocols and hand washing techniques. It can unsafe to smoke tobacco-based products or experience second hand smoking. It is safe to steer clear of smoking-zones.
Those who are seeing yellowish or green discharge from their mouth or nose, coupled with respiratory problems are advised to check if it is due to an onset of pneumonia. A few forms of pneumonia may go off on its own; however, this happens only when the onset is at its milder form. For instance, walking-pneumonia is often a milder form of this lung condition. This version may let you carry on your daily tasks without any great difficulties.
In this milieu, it becomes essential to know that your lungs have air bags called alveoli. Pneumonia is caused by the inflammation of your lungs which impacts these air bags. People living with conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or other ailments like fibrosis as well as compromised immune system are likely to see an onset of it.
Education: Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) from the University of Florida. Experience: 5 years as a pharmacist and medical writer, creating content on medication management and pharmaceutical news for healthcare blogs and patient education sites.
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