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Pneumonia, inflammation and consolidation of the lung tissue as a result of infection, breathing foreign particles into the lungs, or irradiation.
There are many organisms that can cause pneumonia; Pneumococcus and Mycoplasma are the two most commonly responsible. Mycoplasmal pneumonia, caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae, an extremely small organism, usually afflicts older children and young adults; since the body can produce an immunity to the organism, few cases beyond the age of 50 are seen. In large populations, epidemics can occur, but most outbreaks are localized to families, neighbourhoods, or institutions. There is no seasonal preference for infections to occur. Mycoplasma pneumoniae grows on the mucous membrane that lines most of the internal lung structures. It does not invade the deeper tissues—the muscle fibres, elastic fibres, or nerves. The bacteria can produce an oxidizing agent that might be responsible for some cell damage. Usually the organism does not invade the membrane that surrounds the lungs, but it does sometimes inflame the bronchi and alveoli. The bronchi carry air through the lungs, while the
alveoli are the vital air sacs responsible for the exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen gases
between the lungs and the bloodstream.
Symptoms do not appear until about three weeks after the initial infection. Headaches and a run-down feeling increase to feverishness, muscle pain, and sore throat. As the dissevere ease progresses, coughing becomes the major symptom. Sputum discharge may contain flecks of blood. Any chest pains result from the tenderness of the trachea (windpipe) and
muscles from severe coughing. The illness
may be severe but there are few fatalities. Recovery generally occurs in a few weeks with the help of antibiotic drugs. Pneumococcal pneumonia, caused by Diplo the coccus pneumoniae, is clinically more severe; the organism may frequently be found in the bodies of normal people, and tends to cause
disease only when the body’s defenses are weakened.
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The common cold produces excess secretions in the respiratory tract, thereby inviting these pneumonia organisms. The organisms need fluids to grow in, and when they invade they cause an outpouring of additional fluids from the bloodstream into the lungs. The alveoli,
or air sacs, are the main sites for inhabitation. The alveoli fill with fluids, white blood cells,
and bacteria, creating the firmness or consoli the dation of the lungs. The bacteria infest the al
ing; veolar tissue, causing reddened and hemor. Persons rhagic zones; as the infection moves through the alveoli, white blood cells attempt to ingest them. The infection spreads to different areas
of the lungs by the movement of the bacteria themselves and the circulation of the fluids
containing the bacteria during respiratory movements, coughing, and different bodily
positions. Fluids seeping from the alveoli enter the cavity between the lungs and pleural
sac so that this area becomes filled with a thick pustulant drainage and is inflamed. Pa
pneumoencephalography, tients with this disease are seriously ill, but most recover if treated with antibiotics. Lipid pneumonia, inflammation, and consolidation of lung tissue because of the presence of oil droplets, occurs most often in infants and the elderly. Oil that is being swallowed may be
breathed into the respiratory tract, or, less often, it may come from the body itself when
the lung is physically injured. Scar tissue forms as a result of the presence of the oil, Ortion dinarily no treatment is necessary.
Inflammation of lung tissues may result from
X-ray treatment of structures within the chest.
The disease makes its appearance from one to 16 weeks after exposure to the X-rays has ceased. Recovery is usual unless too great an area of lung tissue is involved.
