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Pneumonia
I have been diagnosed with pneumonia. I have swallowing disorders that put me at risk for aspiration pneumonia. Are there any tests that can be done to differentiate the type of pneumonia? I have had several xrays done on my chest and was put on antibiotics.
Best Answer
Noramlly aspiration pnuemonia would cause a bacterial pnuemonia. Because you actually inhale food particles or liquid. In other words your food is going down the wrong "pipe". Antibiotics should take care of any infection, you should also try some learning effective coughing skills also. This will aide in getting the particles back out of the airway. You can have blood drawn to see whether it is a virus or bacteria, but it is most likely bacterial pnuemonia.
A sputum sample is the traditional method of determining the type of infectious organism, however if you cough up one it is likely to be contaminated so they prefer to insert a probe into the trachea and thence into the lung. The substance extracted is then cultured. Since this procedure is expensive and hazardous modern physicians usually only prescribe broad-scope antibiotics.
The usual presentation of a bacterial infection in the lung is yellow or greenish sputum.
The usual presentation of a bacterial infection in the lung is yellow or greenish sputum.
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