What are the causes of pneumonia in children? How to distinguish pneumonia from cold in children?

Pediatric pneumonia is a common clinical disease that is prone to occur in all seasons, but more often in winter and spring. If the treatment is not thorough, it is easy to relapse and affect the child's development. The clinical manifestations of pediatric pneumonia are fever, cough, and dyspnea. There are also those who do not have a fever but have severe cough and asthma. The main cause of the disease is that children like to eat sweet, salty, fried and other foods, which cause food stagnation and internal heat, phlegm and heat, and occasional cold wind that makes the lungs stagnant. The two are mutually causal and cause pneumonia. So, what are the inducing factors of pediatric pneumonia? Let's take a look with the editor below.

Introduction to the causes of pneumonia in children

(I) Pathogens: viruses, bacteria, mycoplasma, fungi, etc., with viral pneumonia being the most common.

(II) Predisposing factors: Malnutrition, rickets, anemia, congenital heart disease, cerebral hypoplasia and other conditions where the body's resistance and immunity are low are prone to the disease. Environmental factors: sudden climate change, poor ventilation in the room, polluted air, etc.

How to distinguish pneumonia from cold in children

Body temperature: Children with pneumonia usually have a fever, which is usually above 38°C and lasts for more than 2-3 days. Antipyretics can only temporarily reduce the fever. Children with colds also have a fever, but the duration is shorter, so antipyretics are more effective.

Breathing: Pneumonia in children usually causes coughing or wheezing, which is severe and often causes breathing difficulties. Coughing or wheezing caused by colds and bronchitis is generally mild and does not cause breathing difficulties. Breathing difficulties are manifested by breath holding, flaring of the nostrils, and purple lips, indicating that the disease is serious and should not be delayed.

Mental state: When children have a cold, they are generally in a good mental state and can still play. When children have pneumonia, they are in a bad mental state and often get irritable, cry and feel restless, or become drowsy or have convulsions.

Diet: When children have a cold, their diet is normal. However, when they have pneumonia, their appetite decreases significantly. They will not eat, drink milk, or drink water, and will often cry and become restless due to holding their breath. Children may also experience digestive system symptoms such as vomiting, abdominal distension, and diarrhea.

Sleep: When children have a cold, their sleep is normal. But after they have pneumonia, they tend to wake up easily, cry a lot, or even have convulsions.

Sound: Children with pneumonia will hear "gurgling" and "gurgling" sounds at the end of inspiration, which are called fine bubbling sounds. This is an important sign of lung inflammation. Children with colds generally do not have this kind of sound. Because the chest wall of children is thin, sometimes you can hear the bubbling sound with your ears without a stethoscope, so parents can listen carefully to the chest wall on both sides of their spine when the child is quiet.

How to choose medication for pneumonia in children

1. Choice of antibiotics.

(1) Gram-positive coccal infection of the lungs: For pneumococcal pneumonia, penicillin is still the first choice. For those who are allergic to penicillin, erythromycin can be used instead.

(2) Gram-negative bacterial infections of the lungs can generally be treated with ampicillin or aminoglycoside antibiotics. Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia can be treated with Fudaxin, Junbizhi, etc.

(3) Mycoplasma pneumonia: Erythromycin is often used, and the course of treatment is preferably 2 weeks.

(4) For pneumonia with unclear bacterial origin, broad-spectrum antibiotics should be selected according to the condition and used in combination (one of the antibiotics should be biased towards Gram-negative bacteria).

2. Application of antiviral drugs. Interferon, triazole nucleoside. (III) Oxygen therapy: (IV) Symptomatic treatment: 1. Antipyretic and sedative. 2. Expectorant, cough and asthma.