Pneumonia in children - symptoms

Pneumonia in children, especially the first years of life, is a common disease that affects the lungs. Duration of treatment, the likelihood of relapse and the transition of pneumonia to the chronic stage are good reasons to understand the need for early diagnosis of the disease. About the existing forms of the disease and how to recognize the child pneumonia, we will explain in this article.

How to determine pneumonia in a child?

Determine the symptoms of pneumonia possible, but not always it is possible in the early stages, especially in infants. The thing is that in the first days of the disease the symptoms are very similar to acute bronchitis.

  1. For bronchitis and pneumonia in children, the secondary type of development of the disease is more typical (on days 5-7 after the ORVI , ORZ in children ).
  2. Severe dry cough, shortness of breath and chest pain.
  3. High body temperature.

Only a specialist can make a final diagnosis.

How does pneumonia manifest in children?

Manifestations of pneumonia in children can vary significantly. It depends on the type of pathogen. The severity of the disease and the brightness of the manifestation of symptoms are due to the extent of lung damage.

Calling pneumonia can:

For viral pneumonia in children, the symptoms in the form of cough, high fever, poorly amenable to medication, characteristic wheezing and other things persist. But atypical pneumonia, which is caused by chlamydia and mycoplasmas, you can and completely confuse with the usual ARI.

The first signs of atypical pneumonia in children:

Symptoms of radical pneumonia in children also have their own characteristics. If other areas of the lung are affected, the disease is diagnosed more easily. Determine the localization of wheezing in this disease is extremely difficult. If the inflammation started in the basal part of the lung, additional tests should be performed, since in the pictures the basal pneumonia is similar to tuberculosis and bronchial cancer. Temperature, cough, loss of appetite and other symptoms are inherent in radical pneumonia, but the disease itself is protracted.

Symptoms of pneumonia in infants

In infants, it is especially difficult to diagnose pneumonia in the early stages, even for specialists. In the first two days of the disease, a cough or breathing with a characteristic noise is not observed in the child and there are no wheezing when listening to the lungs. Pneumonia in infants can also occur without fever. Given that the baby's respiratory system is just beginning to improve, the picture of the disease can develop into a serious and the treatment then has a very long time. But nevertheless signs of a pneumonia at thoracal children, let and not so strongly pronounced, are available.

  1. The child loses his appetite. A kid can often ask for a breast, but at the same time he practically does not suck.
  2. The nasolabial triangle of the baby acquires a bluish tinge. This is especially noticeable during sucking.
  3. The skin between the ribs of the baby begins to retract. To determine this, it is necessary to put the child to undress it and see if the given symptom is present.
  4. Rapid breathing. Babies who get pneumonia start breathing more often. So, in children up to 2 months there are more than 60 breaths per minute, for children up to a year there are more than 50 breaths, and in children after a year - more than 40 breaths per minute.
  5. Behavioral changes. The child can become sluggish and apathetic, the periods of sleep at the same time increase noticeably in time. There may be another option, when the child, by contrast, is a lot of naughty, crying and screaming.