Pneumoniaaffects millions of people every year.
Physical Examination
Fever, cough, and shortness of breath could be symptoms ofpneumonia.
Your healthcare provider with start an evaluation by checking your vital signs and taking a detailed medical history.
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Low levels of oxygen are concerning and may mean that you better be put on oxygen.
Using a stethoscope, a practitioner will listen to your lungs.
They are listening to crackling sounds orwheezing.
Illustration by JR Bee, Verywell
Decreased sounds in one area could mean thatpneumonia has formedthere.
Do not be surprised if you are asked to say the letter “E” out loud.
Your healthcare provider may or may not use the following tests.
Complete Blood Count
A complete blood count is a simple and inexpensive test.
Awhite blood countis one of the blood counts measured.
It is measured via a blood test.
Interestingly, the levels increase in response to bacterial infections but decrease in viral ones.
Results are usually positive within four hours of bacterial infection and peak within 12 to 48 hours.
However, if you are hospitalized and develop pneumonia symptoms, they may order a sputum culture.
Unfortunately, collecting a good-quality sputum sample can be difficult, especially if someone has a dry cough.
It often gets contaminated with normal bacteria that live in the respiratory tract.
A sample should be collected before you are treated with antibiotics.
You’ll be asked to cough up some sputum with as little saliva as possible.
Once collected, aGram stainis applied to part of the specimen and examined under a microscope.
A good-quality sputum sample will show several white blood cells but few epithelial cells.
Narrowing the diagnosis makes it easier to choose an appropriate antibiotic.
To find out what specific bacteria is causing your illness, your sample will be cultured in Petri dishes.
The problem is that it may take days to get a definitive culture result.
Also, certain bacteria likeS.
pneumoniaeare difficult to grow and can give false-negative results.
Bacterial pneumonia caused byS.
pneumoniaeandLegionellaspecies has a high incidence of complications.
Antigens from these bacteria are excreted in the urine.
A simple urine test is available to look for these antigens.
The results are rapidly available and studies have shown them to be more accurate than Gram stain or culture.
Another advantage of the test is that treatment with antibiotics will not alter the results.
The problem is that urine antigen tests are less accurate in milder cases of pneumonia.
It also only tests for one serotype ofLegionellaalthough there are many species.
IgM antibodies indicate a new infection whereas IgG antibodies usually show that you have been infected in the past.
It can sometimes be difficult to know when IgM antibodies transitioned to IgG antibodies.
PCR and Enzyme Immunoassays
It can be difficult to culture a virus.
Instead, viral infections are more commonly diagnosed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and enzyme immunoassays.
To perform any of these tests, a sample must be collected.
PCR is a test that screens for the presence of specific viral or bacterial DNA in a sample.
It is an alternative to serology to screen for atypical bacteria.
While results are often available in one to six hours, PCR cannot be performed on-site.
It must be processed by a laboratory.
Pneumonia is a common complication of COVID-19.
ForCOVID-19 testing, the most accurate specimen is collected from the nose.
This is the part of the upper respiratory tract where concentrations of the virus may be greatest.
Studies are then performed to assess if genetic material from the virus is present.
Imaging
Imaging studies are often performed before laboratory tests.
It can also reveal other signs of lung disease like cavitations andpulmonary nodules.
Your practitioner usually cannot differentiate between bacterial and viral infections based on imaging alone.
CT Scan
It is possible that a chest X-ray can miss a diagnosis.
The test is performed by placing you flat in a donut-shaped machine that takes pictures.
Bronchoscopy visualizes big airways (trachea or windpipe and large bronchi)not lungs.
Bronchoscopy is almost never done in an otherwise healthy adult withcommunity-acquired pneumonia.
Differential Diagnosis
There are other conditions that can have symptoms similar to pneumonia, likebronchitisorcongestive heart failure.
In the worst-case scenario, it could be a warning sign oflung cancer.
However, don’t be alarmed by these possibilities.
The best thing for you to do is visit your healthcare provider for a proper diagnosis.
In most cases, once diagnosed, pneumonia can be well taken care of.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is recommended that any suspected case ofpneumoniabe confirmed with an X-ray.
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