Symptoms of Pneumonia

The disease Pneumonia is generally not easy to detect. The symptoms of pneumonia vary according to the age of the patient and the cause of the infection. Proper diagnosis and medical tests can only detect the pneumonia exactly. The most common symptom is the yellow or greenish phlegm or sputum and high fever along with shivering. Shortness of breath is generally the most common symptom reported in the patients of pneumonia. A sharp piercing pain in the chest during cough or deep breaths is the stern symptom that must not be ignored.

Other primary symptoms of pneumonia include:

• headache
• coughing of blood
• moist and sweaty skin
• loss of appetite
• fatigue
• vomiting
• joint or muscle ache
• blueness of skin
• nausea

There are many different symptoms and sign seen in the patients suffering from pneumonia. Some patients report stern abdominal pain along with diarrhea. In some particular cases of pneumonia that is caused by Pneumocystis or tuberculosis can also result in night sweats and weight loss. Infants and elderly people are more prone to the infections of pneumonia and both have almost same symptoms of dizziness and a decreased appetite.

Some of the major symptoms of pneumonia include the rapid pulse, and painful and shallow breathing. Along with this the breath gets shorten for the reason that the oxygen is unable to reach the blood properly because of the inflamed lungs. In addition, coughs generally bring up mucus with it; this mucus is medically termed as sputum. This sputum may be spotted with pus or blood. The patient’s skin appears blue due to the lack of oxygen. Some mixed symptoms can also be observed such as crackles and tachypnea along with the bronchial breath sounds. Different kinds of pneumonia may show dissimilar symptoms and aspects. Those who are suffering from bacterial pneumonia generally start showing the symptoms all of a sudden and those symptoms are often developed after or during an upper respiratory infectivity, such as, cold or influenza.

If the individual is suffering from the pneumonia caused by viral infection then the symptoms may be less stern, less apparent and may appear gradually. This type of pneumonia often remains unidentified as the person does not appear to be poorly sick. When the pneumonia is caused by the anaerobic bacteria “bacteroides” it results in dangerous swelling in lungs. The symptom of this type of pneumonia is prolonged fever and prolific cough with blood.

The symptoms of pneumonia sometimes are very different. If the lower part of lungs is infected by the pneumonia then there are no breathing problems, but there may be vomiting and abdominal pain accompanied by fever. In kids pneumonia caused due to Chlamydia show different symptoms such as pink eye (conductivities) accompanied with mild sickness and no fever. Pertussis (Whooping cough) may also cause pneumonia. In this type of pneumonia the patient have long coughing spells, bluish skin and may make a typical whoop sound while trying to breathe.