Pneumonia is a general infection, excited by a special organism—the
pneumococcus—and manifested by a local inflammatory process in the lung
and severe systemic disturbances.
Exposure to cold and lowered vitality from overwork, alcoholism, or
some previous disease render persons liable to infection.
=Symptoms.=—These consist in a decided chill, pain in the side, fever
rising rapidly to 104°-105° F., and lasting for five, seven, nine,
or eleven days, and then rapidly falling; cough; tenacious bloody
expectoration, shortness of breath, delirium and stupor, and physical
signs indicating a solid condition of the affected lung.
In fatal cases death usually results from exhaustion, the result of
the systemic poisoning, but occasionally it is due to a failure of
the heart to propel the blood through the solid lung, to suffocation,
or a complication, such as inflammation of the covering of the heart
(pericarditis) or lining of the heart (endocarditis).
=Management.=—The room should be well ventilated, but free from
drafts. The temperature should be maintained between 65° and 70° F.
Cool water should be given freely. The points mentioned in connection
with temperature, respiration, and pulse in dealing with typhoid fever
are applicable here. Note the frequency of cough, the amount and
character of expectoration, and whether the latter is raised readily
or with difficulty. Note the occurrence of pain and its location; also
amount of sleep, amount of nourishment, amount of urine, number of
stools, etc., and the effect of sponging, of medicines, and of local
applications. Clean the mouth and teeth at intervals, being extremely
careful, however, in all manipulations not to tire or exhaust the
patient.