Pneumonia: Causes, treatment and prevention

• The infection begins with a severe chill.
• The temperaturerises quickly and there is a pain in the chest.
• There is a short, dry,painful cough, and the rate of breathing is greatly increased.
• The patient lies on the right or left side and not on the back.
• The face becomes flushed, especially one or both cheeks feverblisters appear on the lips. - The sputum expectorated is tingedwith blood.
• After the fever has continued high for several days,there is an abrupt drop, usually accompanied by abundantsweating.
• Following this the patient feels more comfortable,and, unless some accident occurs, will continue to improve andwill recover in two or three weeks.

Preventive Measures of Pneumonia :

• The germs of pneumonia aredistributed widely. We cannot escape them, but if the body iskept strong and healthy the pneumonia germ cannot damage it.
• The natural power of the body to resist disease germs isweakened by the use of any form of wine or tobacco, lack ofproper food or too much food, living in dark, poorly ventilatedhouses, sleeping with doors and windows closed or the headcovered, sitting humped over, and by catching a cold.
• Pneumonia is spread through the discharges from the nose,through the sputum, and from coughing and sneezing.
• Pneumonia may also be contracted by using a drinking cup that hasbeen used by others, and by breathing dusty air on the streets,orthe dusty air caused by sweeping the house.

Treatment of Pneumonia:

The mortality from pneumoniahas been very greatly reduced since the introduction of sulphadrugs and penicillin. Of the two the latter is the one of choice.Six hundred thousand units of penicillin per day will bring theinfection under control in less than two days. If you are isolatedand no doctor is available to administer the injection, youcansometimes get penicillin pills. Give about 200, 000 units every sixhours or two tablets of sulpha every four hours. After two daysreduce to one tablet four times a day for four to six days.