Modern medicine does not stand still, and new effective medicines are being created for the treatment of various diseases, including pneumonia. But despite this, every year the number of patients suffering from this dangerous disease is only increasing, and deaths are not uncommon. Contribute to this bad environment, smoke, harmful working conditions, reduced immunity, constant mutation of dangerous pathogens and the emergence of new ones.
Content
What is pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lungs. Occurs due to infection in the body and flows very hard. Its symptoms are:
- Dyspnea.
- General weakness.
- Intoxication of the body, accompanied by vomiting.
- High body temperature (above 38 degrees), which lasts for several days.
- Cough with sputum or blood.
- Headache.
In order to properly diagnose, it is necessary to donate blood, sputum for laboratory tests, and to make a chest x-ray. If the diagnosis is made correctly, the doctor prescribes treatment with antibiotics. With pneumonia, this is the surest remedy. Antibiotics for pneumonia help eliminate inflammation.
The use of antimicrobial agents is necessary to prevent the development of pathogens, bacteria, sticks, viruses and minimize the risk of complications. If you do not start treatment in time, you can miss the time. Because of this, subsequent treatment can last for a very long time, and in some cases, the delay is fatal.
Types of antibiotics for the treatment of pneumonia
Only a doctor prescribes antibiotics for pneumonia, relying on signs of a certain type of pneumonia (lobar, atypical, basal, focal, aspiration).
Antibiotics of a wide range of actions used for pneumonia are of the following types:
- Penicillin (penicillin, amoxicillin, augmentin, oxacillin, ampicillin).
- Cephalosporin (cefilim, cefexim, ceftobylprol, cephalexin, ceftriaxone).
- Macrolides (erythromycin, clarithromycin).
- Aminoglycosides (kanamycin, azithromycin, gentamicin).
- Tetracyclines (doxycycline, minocycline, tetracycline).
- Fluoroquinol (levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin).
If the source of infection is established, the doctor prescribes a drug to which sensitive microorganism detected. This is determined by analyzing the sputum from which the growth of microorganisms was obtained, thus determining the sensitivity to certain antibacterial drugs.
Sometimes some antibiotics are replaced by others. This happens in the following cases:
- If within 72 hours after taking antibacterial drugs, improvement did not come.
- There were side effects, life-threatening, from taking a particular drug.
- Some types of antibiotics may be too toxic for certain groups of people, for example, pregnant women and children. In this case, the duration of drug intake is reduced or replaced by another one.
How different types of antibiotics work
Each type of antibiotic fights a specific type of pneumonia pathogen.
- If pneumococcal pathogens are detected, penicillin antibiotics are very effective in fighting them.If you experience resistance or hypersensitivity to this type of drug, you can use cephalosporins or macrolides.
- If pneumonia was caused by chlamydia or mycoplasmas, the treatment is carried out with macrolides, fluoroquinols, as well as tetracycline antibiotics.
- Cephalosporins fight with E. coli, and legionellosis with macrolides in combination with fluoroquinols.
Antibiotic Uses
To antibiotic treatment of pneumonia was successful, it is necessary to apply them correctly. Adult antibacterial drugs are administered in different ways: orally, intramuscularly, inhalation, intravenously.
Infants for the treatment of pneumonia antibiotics administered parenterallybypassing the digestive system, otherwise the microflora of the stomach and intestines can be adversely affected. Antibacterial drugs are administered by injection or inhalation. Most importantly, children up to 6 months are treated in the hospital under the round-the-clock supervision of doctors.
For adults, different antibiotics for pneumonia are administered differently:
- If the disease is very difficult, in the first two days, penicillin antibiotics are administered intravenously, then intramuscularly. In this case, the transition from one form of drug administration to another is called a “stepwise” course of treatment.
- Cephalosporins due to their low toxicity can be administered intravenously and intramuscularly. Penicillin is often substituted for them if a patient has a hypersensitivity to this antibiotic.
- Macrolides do an excellent job with staphylococci, corynebacteria, streptococci and pneumococci. This drug continues to act even after its cancellation, having accumulated enough in the tissues of the lung.
- In the hospital, if the causative agent of pneumonia has not been established, aminoglycosides and fluoroquinyls are used, both individually and in combination with each other. The effect will be the same.
If pneumonia occurs in mild or moderate form without complications, a properly chosen antibacterial drug helps to completely cure the disease in 10 days. Pneumonia caused by mycoplasmas, legionella or chlamydia, is treated for about a month until complete recovery.
When antibiotics for pneumonia do not help
it happens for several reasons:
- The resistance of microorganisms to the antibiotic selected for the treatment of pneumonia.
- With a constant change of antibiotics, thanks to which microorganisms adapt to them and become resistant.
- When trying to cure pneumonia themselves, by choosing an antibacterial drug. Because of this, microorganisms also adapt to different types of drugs that stop helping.
- If the dosage of the antibacterial drug was incorrectly chosen. This happens with self-treatment.
Principles of therapy
Antibiotics must be taken to treat pneumonia. at least seven days. After that, a control x-ray of the chest is done to exclude the presence of a source of infection in the lungs. If it is found, repeat the course of treatment, but with another antibacterial drug. In some cases, consultation with a TB doctor is possible.
Inflammation of the lungs is necessary should be treated in a hospital. Independently and often improperly selected antibiotics in many cases cause side effects, the patient’s condition may worsen, the risk of complications increases, and the prognosis for cure of pneumonia worsens.