Chest Infection: Symptoms and Treatment
As a type of respiratory infection, a chest infection is referred to your lungs. It either affects your lower large airways (bronchi) or the smaller air sacs (pneumonia), making it difficult for you to breathe.
Chest infections affect people of all ages ranging from mild to severe, even, sometimes, they can be life-threatening. In case of having a mild chest infection, it can clear up on its own, without causing serious troubles. Otherwise, if a person experiences chronic/severe chest infections, he needs immediate medical treatment.
Most of all, young children, elder people, smokers, and those with weakened immunity are in the risk groups of chest infections.
In addition, the most common chest infections are:
- Pneumonia – caused by bacterial infection,
- Bronchitis – caused by viral infection.
Most colds and flu cases are caused by viruses. Many illnesses like diarrhea, pneumonia, and meningitis, are often caused by either a virus or a bacterium.
Bacterial and viral infections have many things in common. Both can cause similar symptoms and are spread by things such as:
- Coughs
- Sneezes
- Shared needles
- Contact with infected people, animals, food, water, and surfaces.
Subsequently, chest infections follow colds or flu, most commonly in winter and spring. It is worth noting that straighten immune system can deal with infection and ward off flues, viruses, and diseases. In the matter of keeping your immune system in tip-top condition, you should eat more powerful immune system boosters.
On the whole, the symptoms may vary from person to person depending on the infection severity, age groups, and other related medical problems. Here are some of them:
- fast or difficult breathing
- a chesty cough
- fever
- headache, stomachache
- tiredness
- shortness of breath
- chest pain
- loss of appetite
What you should do during a chest infection?
Try to
- get plenty of rest,
- drink lots of fluid to avoid dehydration,
- while sleeping using extra pillows to make it easier to breathe,
- help keep your chest clear of mucus,
- stop smoking, if you’re a smoker.
Antibiotics, if prescribed and taken correctly, can kill bacteria, but they are sometimes are useless against viruses such as the cold and flu. Hence, if you have a chronic chest infection and health condition, a weakened immune system, or are in the risk group, you may need to be treated in a hospital. After getting a physical examination, the doctor will determine and prescribe medication. Follow the doctor’s orders and take the full course of antibiotics.
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If you’re experiencing the above-mentioned symptoms, want to get a diagnosis and medical treatment, feel free to contact Dr. G Health for medical care!
Dr. G Health provides proactive and preventive health care services to individuals, families, and employers. Our Direct Primary Care (DPC) model creates a direct relationship between the doctor and the patient. DPC benefits patients by improving health outcomes and reducing health care costs. We focus on providing accessible, well-coordinated, and highly personalized primary care to our patients.
