The Healthy Living Website of Lao PDR -- Pneumococcal Pneumonia

Pneumococcal pneumonia mainly causes illness in children younger than 2 years old and adults 65 years of age or older. The elderly are especially at risk of getting seriously ill and dying from this disease. In addition, people with certain medical conditions such as chronic heart, lung, or liver diseases or sickle cell anemia are also at increased risk for getting pneumococcal pneumonia. People with HIV infection, AIDS, or people who have had organ transplants and are taking medicines that lower their resistance to infection are also at high risk of getting this disease.

Cause

Pneumonia can be caused by a variety of viruses, bacteria, and sometimes fungi. Pneumococcal pneumonia is an infection in the lungs caused by bacteria called Streptococcus pneumoniae. S. pneumoniae, also called pneumococcus, can infect the upper respiratory tracts of adults and children and can spread to the blood, lungs, middle ear, or nervous system.

Symptoms

Pneumococcal pneumonia may begin suddenly, with a severe shaking chill usually followed by

High fever
Cough
Shortness of breath
Rapid breathing
Chest pains

There may be other symptoms as well

Nausea
Vomiting
Headache
Tiredness
Muscle aches

Treatment

Your health care worker usually will prescribe antibiotics, such as penicillin, to treat this disease. The symptoms of pneumococcal pneumonia usually go away within 12 to 36 hours after you start taking medicine.

Bacteria such as S. pneumoniae, however, are now capable of resisting and fighting off the powers of antibiotics to destroy them. Such antibiotic resistance is increasing worldwide because these medicines have been overused or misused. Therefore, if you are at risk of getting pneumococcal pneumonia, you should talk with your health care worker about taking steps to prevent it.

Prevention

The pneumococcal vaccine is the only way to prevent getting pneumococcal pneumonia. Vaccines are available for children and adults.

It is recommended that you get immunized against pneumococcal pneumonia if you are in any of the following groups.

You are 65 years old or older
You have a serious long-term health problem such as heart disease, sickle cell disease, alcoholism, leaks of cerebrospinal fluid, lung disease (not including asthma), diabetes, or liver cirrhosis
Your resistance to infection is lowered due to HIV infection or AIDS; lymphoma, leukemia, or other cancers; cancer treatment with x-rays or drugs; treatment with long-term steroids; bone marrow or organ transplant; kidney failure; nephrotic (kidney) syndrome; damaged spleen or no spleen

It is also suggested that all babies and children younger than 23 months old be vaccinated against this disease with the recently licensed pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

Source:www.niaid.nih.gov