His group has published multiple research papers on pneumonia or the pneumococcus, including recent papers describing new methods of trying to prevent infections using novel vaccine approaches. The research is mainly laboratory-based and has been funded by the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust as well as local charities. All adults should get the COVID-19 vaccine.Īt UCL, Professor Brown leads an internationally recognised research group into the pneumococcus aiming to identify why it can cause pneumonia, and to develop new vaccines or other treatments to prevent pneumonia.
Children in the UK are now automatically vaccinated as infants against infections with the pneumococcus with the Prevenar vaccine.
Smoking also increases the risk of developing pneumonia, and if someone has had one episode of pneumonia, they should stop smoking to help prevent another. At present, we do not know whether the lung damage caused by COVID-19 recovers completely or leaves some degree of mild damage that might make some people more breathless when doing everyday activities such as carrying shopping or doing the cleaning.Īt present, the recommendation is that the elderly (over 65 years) and people with chronic diseases affecting the chest, kidneys, liver or brain should be vaccinated against the pneumococcus with the Pneumovax vaccine as they have an increased risk of pneumonia. Amazingly, even with severe pneumonia, the lung usually recovers and has no lasting damage, although occasionally there might be some scarring of the lung (rarely leading to bronchiectasis) or lung surface (the pleura). Many patients do suffer from easily getting tired for a couple of months after having had pneumonia, but this gradually improves. Pneumonia is an acute infection from which most patients will make a rapid recovery. COVID-19 causes a particularly severe pneumonia, especially in the elderly or people with weakened immune systems. They can cause pneumonia by themselves (termed a primary viral pneumonia) or allow a bacteria such as pneumococcus to reach the alveoli and cause a secondary bacterial pneumonia. Viruses, like Mycoplasma and Chlamydia, and COVID-19 transfer between people by droplet spread (ie. They do not respond to penicillin-type antibiotics, but are killed by macrolides, such as clarithromycin, and by tetracyclines.
These bacteria are spread by inhaling droplets from people with acute infections. Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Chlamydia pneumoniae, which are causes of generally a milder pneumonia accounting for maybe 25% of cases in total.Fortunately, this bug is readily killed by penicillin and other antibiotics. This bacteria lives in the back of the throat in many people, especially young children, and from there very rarely gets into the lungs and causes an acute pneumonia which can be severe. The bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae (also called the pneumococcus), responsible for 50% of cases perhaps.
0 kommentar(er)
