Personal Connection to Bacterial Pneumonia

#10

I first thought something was wrong when at hockey practice I was struggling to catch my breath and was making wheezing sounds. I couldn’t stop coughing over and over, and my fever was through the roof, I had shaking chills, chest pain and was coughing up green mucus. If you’re experiencing these symptoms you might have the respiratory infection of pneumonia. When I had these symptoms at age 12 I went to the hospital and got an x ray on my lungs to see what it was. When they found out it was pneumonia they first treated me with a large amount of Salbutamol, a bronchodilator that caused me to shake. Then I was put on antibiotics until the infection cleared. In my case I had Bacterial pneumonia staphylococcus aureus but other cases include Idiopathic, Parasites, Fungal and Viruses. These infective agents get into the spaces between cells and between alveoli through connecting pores. This invasion causes the body to send white blood cells to the lungs to surround and kill these agents. Cytokines are released to activate the immune system. This leads to the fever, chills, and fatigue common with pneumonia. The neutrophils, bacteria, and fluid from surrounding blood vessels fill the alveoli and interrupt normal oxygen transportation making it hard to breathe. Pneumonia is common in all age groups, and is a leading cause of death among the young, the old, and the chronically ill.