|
Pneumonia is a well known disease caused by a bacteria or a virus and that can easily be treated nowadays with the help of antibiotics. Before they were discovered this illness used to be fatal.
Sometimes the affection is not too severe, and the patient can do normal activities and he does not have to stay in bed to be treated. In this case the pneumonia is called a walking pneumonia. In many cases, people with walking pneumonia don't even know that they are suffering from it, but they feel weakened and exhausted all the time.
This pneumonia is caused by a bacteria known as Mycoplasma, and it is also called mycoplasmatic pneumonia. The bacteria spreads through the air and it can be inhalated in the lungs through the nose or mouth. It can enter both lungs or just one of them, and it causes them to inflammate. If the person that got infected with Mycoplasma is also ill of something else or is elder, then his or her defense system is weakened, which causes this inflammation to be quite dangerous. If not, then the infection is much less dangerous, but it will still cause coughing and some minor respiratory problems.
Most of the patients that are diagnosed with walking pneumonia are under the age of 15. Unfortunately, because the infection is very contagious, the family of the one infected will most likely also get ill. It may become a problem in schools, because a child with the bacteria can spread it to his classmates, which will also spread it to their families and so on. It is recommended to keep a certain distance between you and someone with a walking pneumonia.
Walking pneumonia's symptoms are very similar to those of a cold: fever, coughing and sore throat. But the cough can sometimes eliminate a greenish fluid, and it can't be cured without antibiotics, which aren't recommended in the case of a simple cold. Whatever causes the cough and the sneezing, make sure that those that are doing it always cover their mouth with a handkerchief, because otherwise they would spread the virus all over.
So if your child is coughing and keeps complaining about a sore throat that won't be cured by the usual medication, it may just be a cold, but it can also be a case of walking pneumonia, so it's best to take the kid to the doctor to be sure. Treating a walking pneumonia is very easy, the patient has to take some antibiotics, but not treating it may lead to complication and a much worse situation.
By: Groshan Fabiola
|