Pope Francis is ill with double pneumonia. What does that mean?

The pope is seriously ill with double pneumonia. What does that mean?

“Dual Pneumonia”, also called bilateral pneumonia, means that both lungs are infected. When things are worse, you can hear “multi-lobar”, which means that many parts of your lungs are infected.

In pneumonia, the lung bags where air is exchanged, called alveoli, become inflamed and filled with pus and liquid. This can cause your blood oxygen to come down and can make you need oxygen breathing support or, in severe cases, mechanical support in a fan.

Symptoms most often include cough, saliva production, shortness of breath and fever. Pleurisy, or pain when breathing, is common. Older people can be too weak to have a lot of cough or fever, or just have a new and inexplicable confusion or become less vigilant.

The pope has underlying lung diseases that increase its risk of pneumonia. He had a portion of a lung removed for infection in 1957 and a hospital hospitalization for pneumonia in 2023. Pope Francis has asthmatic bronchitis – important bronchitis caused by allergies.

The pope also has bronchhectase, which is the enlargement of the bronchitis, or air -bearing tubes in your lungs. This leads to the union of mucous and grown infections from bacteria and secretions that are not normally cleaned. Many things, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, autoimmune diseases, immunity and cystic fibrosis, can cause bronchiectase.

Treatment for pneumonia

We do not know specifics about Pope’s antibiotic therapy. Typically, the choice of antibiotics is guided by cultivating a salivary sample and testing it against a variety of antibiotics to see which will kill the mistakes that have grown in culture. Some hospitals have newer technologies such as the Biofire Filarray Pneumonia panel, an analysis of the bacterial polymerase chain reaction, which can detect some atypical viruses and organisms such as mycoplasma. Ideally, you want to use the most specific antibiotic possible to limit the toxicities and the appearance of the most resistant bacteria.

A report on Pope’s progress said: “Medication therapy [that] It was strengthened after numerous infections were diagnosed. “He is also taking oxygen through a simple nasal cinnamon. Unfortunately, he needed steroids to reduce lung inflammation or help in asthma. Steroids increase blood sugar and may require insulin for diabetes. Also contributes to growth of the most difficult organisms to treat like fungi.

What to wait for Pope’s recovery

The Pope was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on February 14th. He was said to have a “complex respiratory infection, including bacteria, virus and other organisms”. The good news is that it did not have a blood flow or sepsis infection, which has a mortality rate of up to 50%.

Pope’s doctors indicated that he was not “a non-compliant patient with the past” and was a workshop. There are also concerns because the Pope is overweight and sedentary, which can cause weakness and complications. His difficulty for raising secretions and clearing his lungs is a special concern

If everything goes well, Pope Francis is expected to stay in the hospital for another week.

Prognosis of pneumonia

Pneumonia is serious at any age, but especially for young children or the elderly, who have weaker immune systems. In addition to childbirth, it is the most common cause of hospital admission to the US, with one million hospitalizations and 50,000 deaths.

Pneumonia is the eighth cause of death and is the leading infectious cause of death in the United States. The hospital -acquired pneumonia has a higher degree of death than the one acquired in the community. Compared to CAP, the step mortality rate was 11.1% versus 5.1% in a study.

As the Pope is improving, he has a long way to do. Wide spectrum antibiotics have numerous side effects, including liver inflammation, bone marrow suppression and poor (and sometimes deadly diarrhea Clostridium difficile.

Ways to reduce your pneumonia risk

There are some things you can easily do to stay healthier. First, stay current in immunizations, including Covid-19 vaccines, influenza and pneumococcus of pneumonia. The influenza stroke reduces the risk of subsequent pneumonia by 25-53%. Pneumococcus or staff pneumonia usually follow the flu. Effective vaccines against pneumococcal pneumonia are available. Please get them!

The flu and Covid-19 are both air viruses, so masking can significantly reduce your risk of infection, especially if you wear a N95, KF94S (S. Korean), or KN95S (Chinese). Look for a reputable trader and learn how to distinguish fake masks that are not protective.

If you get sick, especially if you are old, or if you notice a family member with deteriorating shortness of breath, fever or low body temperature, or confusion, please seek medical care immediately.