Holistic Health Articles and Research Related to Herbal Medicines, Foods and Phytochemicals : Lower respiratory tract infection – Pneumonia

Wednesday, 27 November 2013

Lower respiratory tract infection – Pneumonia – The Diagnosis

Lower respiratory tract infection
The lower respiratory tract infection are the infection consisting of the trachea (wind pipe), bronchial tubes, the bronchioles, and the lungs, including the bronchitis and pneumonia. According to The World Health Report 2004 – Changing History(1), in 2002 lower respiratory track infection were still the leading cause of deaths among all infectious diseases, and accounted for 3.9 million deaths worldwide and 6.9% of all deaths that year.
Pneumonia is defined as a condition of the inflammation of the lung as a result of infection, caused by bacteria, such as bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae or influenza viruses in most cases. Fungi, such as Pneumocystis jiroveci, certain medication such as PPI Stomach Acid Drugs and other conditions such as impaired immune systems.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis is totally dependent to the causes of the diseases by determining whether the cause of CAP is a bacterium, atypical bacterium, or virus. If you are experience some of the above symptoms and if your doctor suspects that you have restrictive lung function, after recording your family history and completing the physical exam, the test which your doctor orders include
1. Chest X-rays
X-rays can detemine the presence of pneumonia and the location of the infection. In the study to investigate the relation between physicians’ predicted probabilities of pneumonia and their utilities for ordering chest x-rays to detect pneumonia, the authors studied 52 physicians who ordered chest x-rays of 886 patients presenting to an emergency department with fever or respiratory complaints, found that physicians who experienced greater regret over missing a pneumonia than over ordering an unnecessary x-ray estimated lower probabilities of pneumonia for patients for whom they ordered x-rays.(53).
2. Blood test
The aim of the blood test is to measure your white cell count and look for the presence of viruses, bacteria or other organisms of which have caused the infection. According to the study by University of Florida, monitoring WBC concentration is a useful approach for early detection of infected foals on farms with a high prevalence of R equi pneumonia. In contrast, serologic surveillance by use of an AGID assay is of little benefit for that purpose(54).
3. Mucus tests
The aim of the test is to determine types of microorganism which cause the diseases
4. Etc.