The lungs are made up of small sacs called alveoli, which fill with air when a healthy person breathes. When a child has a cold, the mucus secreted in the lungs is a great breeding ground for bacteria and viruses. Over several days, the germs multiply enough to create an infected pocket of mucus and pus. When your child has pneumonia, the alveoli are filled with pus and fluid, which makes breathing painful and limits oxygen intake.
Pneumonia is the single largest cause of death in children worldwide, more than Aids, malaria and tuberculosis combined.
Every year, it kills an estimated 1.4 million children under the age of five years, accounting for 19 per cent of all deaths of children under five years old worldwide. The most common bacterial cause is Streptococcus pneumonia while respiratory syncytial virus is the most common viral cause. In infants infected with HIV, pneumocystis jiroveci is a common cause.
The risk factors for pneumonia are lack of exclusive breastfeeding, under nutrition, indoor air pollution, low birth weight, parental smoking, living in crowded homes and lack of measles immunization.
The symptoms are rapid or difficult breathing, cough, fever, chills, loss of appetite and wheezing (more common in viral infections).
A child with severe pneumonia may experience lower chest wall indrawing, inability to feed or drink, unconsciousness, hypothermia and convulsions. Immunization against Haemophilus Influenzae type b, Streptococcus pneumoniae, measles and whooping cough (pertussis) is the most effective way to prevent pneumonia. Adequate nutrition helps improve a child’s natural defences, starting with exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. This also helps to reduce the length of the illness if a child does become ill. Addressing environmental factors such as indoor air pollution and encouraging good hygiene in crowded homes also reduces the number of children who fall ill with pneumonia. In children infected with HIV, the antibiotic cotrimoxazole is given daily to decrease the risk of contracting pneumonia.
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