Pneumonia is an infection of lung tissue. It attacks the whole body, causing high fever and frequent coughing, even with coughing up blood. In addition, severe respiratory distress, chest pain, and increased respiratory rate may occur.
The main risk factor is age, as it usually attacks older people; however, children under 5 years old are also its main victims. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is the single largest cause of death among children worldwide.
Weakened immune defenses, immunodeficiency and smoking favor it. Likewise, it’s common in people with diabetes, obesity, cancer, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Dr. Rudy Lopez, infectious disease specialist in charge of health and welfare, said social security is a reference for the care and control of this disease. “Our institution has the experts, vaccines, antibiotics, medicines and infrastructure to serve our members. It’s important that people know that pneumonia is a leading cause of death.”he added.
Although it is not a contagious disease, all respiratory isolation care is required to prevent pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, or fungi from aggravating the patient’s condition.
There is a vaccine to control this infection, but the best prevention is to live and eat healthily, take precautions when the virus is spreading, and be careful when visiting sick relatives in the hospital.
The above-mentioned regulations classify pneumonia into mild, moderate and severe, with indicators defining when a person diagnosed as infected actually needs outpatient treatment, continued observation, admission to hospital or intensive care unit.