Tuesday 27 September 2016

Get To Know More About Aspiration Pneumonia Prevention

By Edward Meyer


Aspiration pneumonia is a kind of infection of the lungs and develops once you inhale liquid, food or vomit into the lungs. At the same time, you may aspirate liquid or food from the stomach and backs up in the esophagus. As a result, bacteria grow into the lungs if the aspirated material is not coughed up causing the infection. However aspiration pneumonia prevention is possible.

The risk of contracting aspiration pneumonia is dependent on different conditions. Individuals above age 75 years or those who have been in adult care homes for long are at high risk of contracting this infection since they are less active. The difficulty to cough of swallow well also increases the risks of exposure.

There are other factors that increase the risk of this pneumonia. These factors are such as a weak immune system due to diabetes, age, heart failure, and other health issues. At the same time, if the muscles that help you swallow become weak due to various conditions such as Alzheimer disease, stroke and other disease. Other risk factors are such as smoking cigarettes, use of a ventilator or feeding tube which allows bacteria to go to the lungs, alcoholism and poor oral hygiene.

Generally, aspiration pneumonia causes inflammation of the lungs as well as bronchial tubes. Although this infection is not very common, it is possible to contract it. The infection is commonly caused by anaerobic bacteria. Also, viruses and fungi may also lead to pneumonia although not with aspiration. Although the immune system fights the invaders to prevent them from causing the infection, sometimes the germs may overpower your immune system. Generally, only air should enter the lungs under normal circumstances, but the infection may occur if anything is hindering the normal gag reflex.

Although some individuals are able to eliminate effectively the aspirated materials through strong coughs, some people may not because of an impaired coughing ability. The impairment of coughing abilities are common among unconscious individuals or even persons who have suffered brain injuries that lead to a reduction in consciousness. Most people, nevertheless, aspirate some amount of saliva each night as they sleep but never develop this infection because they effectively eliminate the aspirate on top of having immune systems, which are healthy.

This infection has a number of clinical manifestations. They include fever, cough that could be dry or with mucus, froth or pinkish spit, trouble in swallowing, and the skin in the mouth and fingertips turning bluish. Other symptoms include as high heartbeat or pain in the chest, a hoarseness or gurgling voice, loss of weight, appetite loss and a general feeling of fatigue.

The treatment of this infection usually depends on its severity. Your doctor might at first give some antibiotics as the first line of treatment. If the infection is severe and have trouble swallow you might need to stop taking food or liquid by mouth.

It is, however, possible to reduce the infection risk or prevent this condition. This can be made possible by keeping away from actions that can cause one to aspire like excessive alcohol use. Dental care and proper oral hygiene are also significant ways of reducing the infection risks.




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