Chest infection vs pneumonia?

[Lotti_321-]

Me again! Sorry for another question, but it suddenly struck what is the actual difference between the two?!

[EmmaF91 Community Ambassador]

Chest infections can be bacterial or viral. Viral infections may be called bronchitis whilst bacterial infections may be called pneumonia. That’s basically it! There are different types of bacteria which can get in your lungs, resulting in different recovery times/symptoms but 99% of them are pneumoniae(s).

Hope that explains things a bit ☺️

[Lotti_321- in reply to EmmaF91]

That explains it a lot! Does that mean to say them when I am given antibiotics for a chest infection that it’s pneumonia?

[Js706 in reply to Lotti_321-]

Not necessarily - the difference between bronchitis and pneumonia is actually the part of the lungs where the infection is and they can both be bacterial or viral.

They’re both in the lungs but bronchitis is in the larger airways and pneumonia is in the smaller airways and air sacs (alveoli).

[EmmaF91 Community Ambassador in reply to Js706]

Ah different to what I was always told then 😉. I’ll take you’re word for it, you being that little bit more medical 😂.

[Js706 in reply to EmmaF91]

To be honest it’s all just semantics really 😂 it’s more it helps explain why pneumonias show up on x Ray (viral pneumonias should show on x ray) and bronchitis doesn’t and why you get slightly different signs on examination/complications etc.

Either way it’s lower respiratory and always very unpleasant!! Also as someone else has said, I don’t think they’re keen to give someone a “pneumonia” diagnosis as a. You need a chest x Ray to confirm it and b. It is associated with being a lot scarier, even though most cases of it can be happily managed in the community with some antibiotics

[Hidden in reply to Js706]

No. It’s not semantics. It’s a serious difference. Everyone who has asthma really needs to understand these things.

[Js706 in reply to Hidden]

Sorry if I caused offence with what I said - I was just trying to explain the medical difference as it was being discussed.

But for most asthmatics day to day I would say its more important to be aware of general chest infection symptoms and when to seek help than how to tell the difference between pneumonia and bronchitis - as that often requires examination and further investigations like X Rays.

Obviously if you are unwell with one or the other then its different making sure you're aware of what's wrong is important and you should get your doctor/asthma nurse to go through it with you to make sure you understand.

[EmmaF91 Community Ambassador in reply to Lotti_321-]

Depends on the GP and your condition. Some GPs give antibiotics prophylactically to severe asthmatics/COPD/bronchiectasis patients with bronchitis as they can easily have a viral infection turn bacterial. If your GP says you have a bacterial infection (or a blood/mucus test shows it) then it’s likely pneumonia. I think pneumonia is a word docs try not to use nowadays as it comes across a lot scarier than ‘you have a chest infection’ does 😅. You can always double check with your doctors tho

[Lotti_321- in reply to EmmaF91]

I’m fortunate that most of the time no the difference between an asthma flare & ‘chest infection’.

They never stipulate what it is and give me antibiotics. My dr got me thinking when he was talking about what they perscribe antibiotic wise if someone’s been in hospital with pneumonia. They gave me the same, it just got me thinking is this pneumonia then. I was more curious

[Hidden in reply to EmmaF91]

Wow. Not in the US. We need to know our own medical history—accurately.

Antibiotics does not equal pneumonia. If you have severe asthma, here you’re very likely to be admitted and put on IV antibiotics.

[Hidden in reply to EmmaF91]

On the one time I’ve had pneumonia an ambulance was summoned by the GP who had come out to visit me (I was too sick to even be transported the fairly short distance to the surgery in the car). I’ve had chest infections (a number of them, some secondary, others not), but I’ve never had anything as bad as I was on that occasion. That was the occasion my Peak Flow reading was at 150 when the hospital took it - I’d never seen a PFM before then, but this was back in the 1980s. I was X-rayed and was told pneumonia - if I recall correctly it was found in one lung. They also wanted to take a sputum sample to try and identify what was responsible but everything was so tight I couldn’t cough anything up, much to the frustration of the hospital doctors. That’s not unusual for me, incidentally. I’ve always wondered when I’ve seen posts where people refer to sputum samples being taken. If I’ve got a bad chest infection of any sort I’m unlikely to be able to cough anything up. It just won’t come. It just sits on my chest making things worse and nothing I can do will shift it. It’s only when I begin to recover and things loosen up that I can cough it up - but by that time I’ve been on antiobiotics.

I’ve had other chest infections since then, including one really bad one which had my GP dithering about whether or not to send me to hospital. She decided not to, and treated me instead with a hefty dose of antibiotics and oral steroids. Correct call as it turned out, her treatment worked. I was very, very unwell then (her description when I saw her again after I had recovered), but not as bad as I had been back in the 80s. Nothing has really come close to that - thank goodness.

[Hidden in reply to EmmaF91]

No. Bronchitis can be viral or bacterial, and so can pneumonia. I urge people to read up on this because it’s really important when you have asthma.

[EmmaF91 Community Ambassador in reply to Hidden]

Yes. As Js706 said it’s about the location as to whether it’s bronchitis or pneumonia! I was going off what a doc told me a few years ago 🙄

[Hidden in reply to EmmaF91]

No. Location isn’t the issue. Bronchitis and pneumonia are two entirely different disease processes no matter where they are in the lungs.

[Js706 in reply to Hidden]

I’m not quite sure what you mean by this?

They’re both due to infection and inflammation of the lungs and the same bacteria/viruses can cause both. They’re different disease processes in that they cause different signs and symptoms - but as far as I understand that can be explained by the area of the lung affected (e.g pneumonia is more likely to cause low oxygen levels because it is the part of the lung actually involved in gas exchange that is affected)

[Hidden in reply to Js706]

My understanding is that pneumonia causes fluid to build up in the lungs thus making it very difficult to breathe (and believe me, it is, and that’s on top of having a rocketing temperature).

Let’s be quite clear on this - the level of severity between chest infection and pneumonia is totally different. I appreciate (and know all too well) that for any asthmatic a chest infection is not great (and for a severe asthmatic must be horrendous) but pneumonia is appalling. When I had it the antibiotic used to treat it wasn’t a great experience either. Erythromycin via IV line has to be the worst course of antiobiotics I’ve ever had in my life.

[Js706 in reply to Hidden]

Yep that’s right

As I’ve sort of tried to say above the symptoms are based on where the infection is. So in pneumonia it’s the part of the lungs involved in moving oxygen between the blood and lungs and so tends to be much more severe because of this - as it interferes with this process. So things like oxygen levels dropping and difficulty breathing are much more likely - particularly when you add something like asthma into the mix. And because of this you’re also more likely to end up in hospital needing more aggressive treatment like IV antibiotics (although lots of cases can be managed with tablets at home).

[Hidden in reply to Js706]

Could you also explain why the doctors thought I would be able to produce a sputum sample? - there was absolutely no chance that I could. As I’ve stated above, when I have infection on my chest I have what used to be called a “tight cough”. The sign that things were improving came when things loosened up, by which time it was too late to get anything useful.

[Js706 in reply to Hidden]

I think there’s the hope that because the infection leads to a build up of fluid in the air sacs of the lungs that people will be able to bring it up when they cough (and some people will be able to).

But in a lot of people (like yourself!) for a while it will just be too difficult to shift - which can be due to lots of different reasons, for example when people are unwell they’re more likely to be dehydrated and so any phlegm would be thicker and harder to shift. Or it could just be that you don’t have the strength to cough things up properly when you’re very unwell.

It’s still useful to send them off whenever you manage to bring up some sputum though (even if things seem to be improving) as it lets them double check that there isn’t anything weird and wonderful growing in it and that they’ve definitely got you on the right treatment.

[Hidden in reply to Js706]

If I recall correctly, they ideally wanted the sample before I went on the antibiotics. I did eventually manage to give them one (by which time I was responding to treatment) but they weren’t hopeful that it would be useful because the erythromycin was obviously working. And they were right - the sample I gave yielded nothing of use.

Thanks for that explanation:-).

[Js706 in reply to Hidden]

Yeah, normally if possible they like it before starting treatment so they can find out what bug it is and what antibiotics it is sensitive to (especially nowadays with resistant bugs being more common).

But as you found, if you send it after starting treatment they’re unlikely to find anything unless it’s something unexpected causing the infection as they know the most common bugs that cause pneumonias and the antibiotics that tend to work for them

[Chip_y2kuk]

I've been told a few times that a bacterial chest infection is a mild form of pneumonia (usually when there telling me off for being ill).... so i would assume that full blown pneumonia would be pretty unpleasant (I spent a month on antibiotics and steroids for a "chest infection")

[Lotti_321- in reply to Chip_y2kuk]

Whatever it is this is, it isn’t pleaseant. Or it could be that am just fed up of the past 6 months having my chest kick off every 5 weeks after finishing a course of treatment be it asthma or chest infection.

[Hidden in reply to Lotti_321-]

Me too. I’ve been admitted 11times this calendar year, and it’s not quite over... ready to see this year in the rear view mirror!

[Lotti_321- in reply to Hidden]

My aim is to by pass medical professionals for the rest of the year! Fingers crossed

[hypercat54]

Hi I think the symptoms of pneumonia are more severe than for a chest infection. Years ago I woke up with a stabbing pain every time I breathed in and felt really ill. When I went to the doctors they said while it was a chest infection it was verging on pneumonia and I was 'quite ill'. Fortunately ab's cured it. x

[Hidden]

Agreeing with hypercat54. Having had both I can say with certainty I was a lot more sick with the pneumonia. I’ve only had it once, but I’ll never forget how ill I felt with it. I’ve had the pneumonia jab since.

[Lotti_321-]

Thanks everyone, as I mentioned they never stipulated what it is and give me antibiotics. My dr got me thinking when he was talking about what they perscribe antibiotic wise if someone’s been in hospital with pneumonia. They gave me the same, it just got me thinking is this pneumonia then. I was just more curious.

I know deep down, that I’m not right; but can tell I am I’m fight mode to cling on to the rope and see myself through my busy period at work and then Christmas. Probably stupid I know,