Pneumonia Treatment
Pneumonia is a common infection affecting one or both the lungs of individuals. Every year around 3 million individuals in United States develop pneumonia. Before the antibiotics for pneumonia treatment were discovered around one third of the affected individuals would die from this infection. Now following the discovery of specific treatment for this condition most of the patients tend to recover and only around 5% of the patients die.
Pneumonia treatment involves taking antibiotics and the antibiotics prescribed depend on a variety of factors. The age of the patient along with the symptoms and their severity are taken into consideration before prescribing the medicines. Likewise if the condition is serious then the doctor may advise hospitalization. The period for which the antibiotics are taken depend on factors like the condition of the patient.
The first antibiotic that is prescribed as a part of the pneumonia treatment is normally one that works against a range of bacteria. Those antibiotics are selected that tend to have a higher cure rate. Some common antibiotics that may be prescribed for the treatment of pneumonia include macrolides like clarithromycin, erythromycin and azithromycin. Tetracyclines like doxycycline may also be prescribed.
Pneumonia treatment may also include fluoroquinolones like levofloxacin, moxifloxacin and gemifloxacin. Other antibiotics that may be used include cephalosporins like cefotexime, cefepime, ceftazidime and ceftriaxone. Penicillins like amoxicillin, ampicillin, ticarcillin, clavulanate may also be used. Antibiotics tend to work better with people who are younger and those who have stronger immune systems.
In most cases when the pneumonia treatment is started improvements in the symptoms are noticed around 2 to 3 days following the commencement of the treatment. If no improvement is observed in the symptoms then a culture along with sensitivity testing may be done. These tests help to identify the organisms that are responsible for causing the symptoms and this can help in finding out if the bacteria are resistant to certain antibiotics.