Recurrent or Persistent Pneumonia

Infection of a part or entire lung leads to lung injury and causes pneumonia. Pneumonia can affect children of any age group, even neonates. In a highly populated country like ours, pneumonia remains to be one of the prominent reasons for under-5 mortality. Pneumonia can be caused by bacteria or viruses or some rare parasites.

What are the symptoms of Pneumonia?

Children with pneumonia usually have high-grade fever, cough and sometimes even fast breathing. Loss of appetite is significant and child becomes dull and lethargic. Difficulty in breathing, chest pain and chest retractions are some of the signs that warrant hospital admission and treatment.

How do we treat pneumonia?

Antibiotics are the mainstay of treating pneumonia along with supportive medicines.

In mild cases, antibiotics and anti-fever medicines can be given at home with special attention to maintaining diet and water intake. Parents should keep a check on the fever and watch for any signs of breathing difficulty. They must report to the hospital in case of fast breathing. Chest recessions, nose flaring, irritability or lethargy.

In severe cases or in children with poor response to oral antibiotics, children need hospital care and sometimes ICU care. In such cases, blood tests and x-rays are done to assess the severity of infection and intravenous antibiotics are given along with oxygen. These children need vigilant monitoring of their heart rate and oxygen levels in the hospital as they are at risk of developing complications.

What is Persistent Pneumonia?

Pneumonia that persists for more than a month despite treatment is called persistent pneumonia. Fever and cough persist despite antibiotics and there is no radiological clearing on chest X-rays.

Persistent pneumonia can have different causes and these children need further investigations to identify the bug causing pneumonia and give targeted treatment. Often, children develop complications of pnuemonia and hence have poor response to treatment. These children need to be examined and evaluated by a pediatric pulmonologist.

What is Recurrent Pneumonia?

Two or more than two episodes of pneumonia in a year with resolution of symptoms and radiological appearance is considered recurrent pnuemonia. Recurrent pnuemonia in children can have various cause like problems related to immunity, genetic problems like cystic fibrosis or lung malformations. These child need to be evaluated by a pediatric Pulmonologist.