Related topics: children , swine flu , flu



Pneumonia

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Pneumonia is an inflammatory illness of the lung. Frequently, it is described as lung parenchyma/alveolar inflammation and abnormal alveolar filling with fluid (consolidation and exudation).

The alveoli are microscopic air-filled sacs in the lungs responsible for absorbing oxygen. Pneumonia can result from a variety of causes, including infection with bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites, and chemical or physical injury to the lungs. Its cause may also be officially described as idiopathic—that is, unknown—when infectious causes have been excluded.

Typical symptoms associated with pneumonia include cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty in breathing. Diagnostic tools include x-rays and examination of the sputum. Treatment depends on the cause of pneumonia; bacterial pneumonia is treated with antibiotics.

Pneumonia is a common illness which occurs in all age groups, and is a leading cause of death among the elderly and people who are chronically and terminally ill. Additionally, it is the leading cause of death in children under five years old worldwide. Vaccines to prevent certain types of pneumonia are available. The prognosis depends on the type of pneumonia, the appropriate treatment, any complications, and the person's underlying health.

For more information about Pneumonia, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with pneumonia

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What's in health care proposals for 5 Americans (AP)

What's in health care proposals for 5 Americans

Medicine & Health / Health

created Dec 20, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 8

(AP) -- As Congress gets closer to a final health care bill, many Americans want to know: What's in it for me?


Soldiers get mass swine flu shots before holidays (AP)

Soldiers get mass swine flu shots before holidays

Medicine & Health / Health

created Dec 11, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- Thousands of Army recruits in training must line up at least once more before heading home for the holidays, this time for mass inoculations by the hundreds against swine flu.


Toward a fast, accurate urine test for pneumonia

Fast, accurate urine test for pneumonia possible, study finds

Medicine & Health / Research

created Dec 09, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Doctors may soon be able to quickly and accurately diagnose the cause of pneumonia-like symptoms by examining the chemicals found in a patient's urine, suggests a new study led by UC Davis biochemist Carolyn ...


Wide Disparities Found in Age of Hospitalization for Patients of Different Races

Wide Disparities Found in Age of Hospitalization for Patients of Different Races

Medicine & Health / Health

created Dec 01, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- New research from Yale School of Public Health shows that blacks are admitted to the hospital at a significantly younger age than their white peers for a host of preventable medical conditions, ...


Amid the flu epidemic, don't forget RSV in young children

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Nov 23, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Influenza, particularly H1N1, has understandably captured the attention of public health officials, the media and the public. However, an analysis from Children's Hospital Boston, based on patients seen in its emergency department ...


Cost of child vaccines fall, more kids saved

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Nov 20, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- Babies squirmed and wailed as needles plunged into their chubby thighs at a public health clinic on the outskirts of Hanoi on Friday. Like little ones everywhere, the reaction to the sting was never pretty.


FDA reviews update to Pfizer vaccine for kids

Medicine & Health / Medications

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

(AP) -- Federal health officials on Monday questioned whether to approve an updated version of Pfizer's best-selling anti-infection vaccine for children, despite company studies that failed to meet certain goals.


Prioritizing low-cost, simple health measures would save 2.5 million child lives a year

Medicine & Health / Health

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Almost a third of the children under age five who die each year could be saved if governments rebalance health spending to ensure low-cost, simple interventions such as safe water and hygiene, bed nets and basic maternal ...


CDC now says 4,000 swine flu deaths in US

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Nov 11, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- Federal health officials now say that 4,000 or more Americans likely have died from swine flu - about four times the estimate they've been using.


UN: $39 billion needed for pneumonia

Medicine & Health / Health

created Nov 02, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- To fight pneumonia, the world's top killer of children, United Nations officials say they need $39 billion (euro26.35 billion) over the next six years.


Scientists discover influenza's Achilles heel: Antioxidants

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Oct 29, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (7) | comments 1

As the nation copes with a shortage of vaccines for H1N1 influenza, a team of Alabama researchers have raised hopes that they have found an Achilles' heel for all strains of the flu—antioxidants. In an article appearing in ...


Older patients with dementia at increased risk for flu mortality

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Oct 27, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

An epidemiological study on pneumonia and influenza (P&I) in adults age 65 and over reports that patients with dementia are diagnosed with flu less frequently, have shorter hospital stays, and have a fifty percent higher ...


Scientists Create NICE Solution to Pneumonia Vaccine Testing Problems

Scientists Create NICE Solution to Pneumonia Vaccine Testing Problems

Medicine & Health / Research

created Oct 20, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Medical clinics the world over could benefit from new software* created at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where a team of scientists has found a way to improve the efficiency ...


Hitting early, swine flu claims 11 more kids in US (AP)

Hitting early, swine flu claims 11 more kids in US

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Oct 17, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(AP) -- As the swine flu outbreak strikes the U.S. early and hard, health officials note a worrisome number of child deaths and warn that supplies of vaccine will remain scarce for at least the next couple ...


Bacteria co-infections common in swine flu deaths: CDC

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Sep 30, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Many people who have died from swine flu in the United States were also infected with other bacteria, including one which can cause pneumonia or meningitis, US health officials said Wednesday.