When is a cold not a cold?
Most of us won’t escape winter without at least one, if not several, bouts of feeling miserable and unwell. Colds and flus abound at this time of year, some worse than others. But for thousands of New Zealanders, these common infections can result in something potentially much more serious – pneumonia.
Pneumonia is an infection of the air sacs in the lung, causing them to fill with pus and struggle to function as they should.
Although pneumonia is actually common, it remains a potentially very serious condition, especially in young children and the elderly.
About 6 per cent of those affected die from it. Death rates are far higher among Ma¯ ori and Pacific people.
However, if it is picked up early, the majority of cases can be managed successfully at home, avoiding the need for hospital admission and more intensive treatment.
Sometimes it can be hard to tell whether you have a serious cold, a bout of the flu, or something else, but the following symptoms indicate that pneumonia may be a possibility, and you should book a doctor’s appointment:
❚ Cough with green, brown or yellow sputum ❚ Malaise – feeling weak and achy
❚ Fatigue
❚ Shortness of breath or difficulty taking a deep breath
❚ Pain in your chest on breathing in
❚ High fevers, though this is not always the case ❚ Chills or shivers
❚ Headache
❚ Loss of appetite
❚ Confusion
❚ Depending on the type of pneumonia, you may also get diarrhoea and nausea.
Symptoms might come on really rapidly, but also can develop gradually on the back of a ‘‘normal’’ cold. Symptoms may not be as obvious in young children, especially babies, so if your child is displaying any of the following, get medical help urgently:
❚ Difficulty breathing, which may present as grunting, flaring of the nostrils, fast or shallow breaths, blue colouration around the mouth ❚ Floppy or reduced responsiveness
❚ Refusal to feed.
As mentioned, pneumonia is more common in the young and old, but you are also at greater risk if you smoke, drink heavily, have had pneumonia before, or have a chronic (ie, ongoing) health condition such as diabetes, heart disease, asthma or other lung problem.
Babies who are born premature or have very low birth weight are also more likely to get this infection.
To diagnose pneumonia, your doctor will need to take some routine recordings of your pulse, temperature, blood pressure, breathing rate and oxygen levels, as well as listen to your chest.
The signs in the chest can be subtle, but if your doctor is suspicious they may refer you for an urgent chest X-ray. If you have pneumonia, this will show up as a ‘‘patch’’ or haziness on one or both lungs.
If it’s detected early you won’t necessarily need to go to hospital, though that will depend on your other risk factors.
If you are in the early stages of pneumonia, and your health is otherwise quite robust, a long-ish course of antibiotics at home and lots of rest may be all that is required. However, anyone who is really sick with pneumonia, isn’t getting better as expected, or has other health issues, including all young children, should be seen in hospital, where higher doses of antibiotics can be given into the vein.
I know from a fit, young friend who unexpectedly got pneumonia a couple of years ago
I know from a fit, young friend who unexpectedly got pneumonia a couple of years ago, that recovery can take many weeks in terms of regaining your usual energy and ‘‘bounce’’ – this doesn’t mean you need to be on any treatment for weeks, but should be taking things easy.
that recovery can take many weeks in terms of regaining your usual energy and ‘‘bounce’’ – this doesn’t mean you need to be on any treatment for weeks, but should be taking things easy and not expect too much of yourself. A relapse is the last thing you want.
In terms of prevention, ensuring you are up to date with your vaccinations is a good start – all children in New Zealand should be immunised routinely against pneumococcal (the most common bacteria that causes pneumonia), and ‘‘at-risk’’ adults should have vaccinations too.
Having a flu vaccine will reduce your risk of getting viral pneumonia, and for many people this is either a free vaccine or available at very low cost.