How can I tell if the inflammation has improved?

The weather is getting worse and worse, and the natural air quality is also starting to decline. Many people are prone to catching colds in low temperatures, which has a certain impact on the body. If you want to know whether your inflammation has improved, you still need to judge more through various aspects and symptoms, including hospital examination procedures.

It is deep winter now, the temperature is dropping, and respiratory infections are also decreasing. As the temperature gets lower and lower, more and more children are suffering from more than just common colds and fevers, but severe bronchitis and even pneumonia.

Every time I encounter a child with fever and cough for 3 or 4 days in the outpatient clinic, the parents are relieved when I tell them after auscultation that the child has bronchitis. If I tell them that the child has pneumonia, the parents often look like they are about to collapse, and some mothers burst into tears instantly.

Compared with common respiratory infections, pneumonia is a more serious disease, but most pneumonias have a good prognosis after treatment, so parents do not need to be anxious.

What is pneumonia?

Pneumonia is an inflammation of the terminal airways, alveoli, and lung interstitium. To make a vivid analogy: the entire lung is like an inverted tree: the trunk of the tree is the trachea, and the branches gradually branch out into the bronchi, bronchioles, and alveoli, and the alveoli are like the leaves of the tree.

Inflammation of tree branches (trachea, bronchi) is tracheitis and bronchitis, and inflammation of leaves (alveoli) is pneumonia. The twigs and leaves themselves are continuous. Bronchitis is an inflammation of the twigs, and pneumonia is an inflammation of the leaves. There is no essential difference between the two. Pneumonia is an extension of bronchitis. So don't be scared when you hear it's pneumonia. It differs from bronchitis only in the depth of infection.

The pathogens of pneumonia can be viruses, bacteria, and mycoplasmas.

How to determine if a child has pneumonia?

No matter how much I explain, the mother will still worry about her child's pneumonia. Diagnosing pneumonia is a doctor's job, but parents need to understand what conditions may indicate pneumonia in their children, because you need to take your child to see a doctor in these cases:

1. Newborns: Pneumonia in newborns often does not have symptoms such as fever or cough. The main manifestations of pneumonia are weak spirit, less milk intake, choking, spitting, and other non-respiratory symptoms. Therefore, if there is a respiratory patient at home (such as the mother), the child should be taken to the doctor if he or she subsequently develops the above symptoms. Especially when the child seems listless, it is important to see a doctor.

2. Young infants: Young infants with pneumonia often have obvious coughs, some have fever and some do not. Take your child to see a doctor when the cough continues to worsen, the breathing becomes faster and more difficult (nasal fanning: the nostrils move when breathing) in a quiet state (no crying, no fever), the child has blue spots around the mouth, the child eats less milk, has obvious choking and spitting up of milk, and is obviously irritable, crying, or listless.

3. The condition of infants changes rapidly, and sometimes they need to see a doctor every day to observe the changes in their condition. They may have bronchitis one day and pneumonia the next day, or even change within the same day.