Guide To The Most Common Bacterial Infections

A bacterial infection is a term used to describe when a certain type of foreign microorganism enters an individual's body and causes damage to their tissues. An organism may use the affected individual's body to reproduce, colonize, and sustain itself. Other types of microorganisms that can cause infection in the body include viruses, fungi, protozoa, and parasites. Different pathogens have different shapes, sizes, functions, impacts on the body, and genetic content. Bacteria are organisms considered single-celled and may be referred to as prokaryotes in the medical community. An individual's body naturally contains many types of bacteria that are helpful to the organs and their functions that do not cause any harm. However, an invasion of foreign bacteria or the overgrowth of natural bacteria in the body can produce damage to the tissues or an infection. Different types of bacterial infections affect different parts of an individual's body.

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an infection that develops in the lungs. Bacterial pneumonia develops when the Streptococcus pneumonia, Hemophilus influenzae, staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcuspyogenes, Klebsiellapneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis, or Neisseriameningitidis bacteria invades the tissues of an individual's lungs. Bacterial pneumonia is more likely to develop in individuals who have a compromised immune system whereas viral pneumonia is more likely to develop in a healthy individual. Symptoms of bacterial pneumonia include productive cough with green, bloody, or yellow mucus, sudden chills or shakes, a fever of between 102 and 105 degrees Fahrenheit, chest pain that worsens when breathing or coughing, muscle pains, headache, rapid breathing, breathlessness, pale skin, appetite loss, sweating, confusion, and lethargy. Diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia is made with the use of physical examination, blood testing, sputum culture, and chest x-rays. Bacterial pneumonia is treated with the use of antibiotics to kill the type of bacteria that has produced the infection and supportive measures like intravenous fluids, respiratory therapy, and pain medication.