Hospital acquired pneumonia is the types of pneumonia that a person develops after being admitted to a hospital. It usually develops about 48 hours after admission and can be quite serious, especially in combination with the problems that required hospitalization.
The term “hospital-acquired pneumonia” usually refers to one of the subtypes. These include: pneumonia in hospital patients that are not on a ventilator, pneumonia acquired after surgery, and pneumonia in patients who are on a ventilator. This type of pneumonia can also be healthcare associated, meaning it can be acquired in a nursing home, or a person can get it if they have to go to a center regularly to receive dialysis or chemotherapy.
Pneumonia that is hospital acquired is among the most serious types because of the risk factors. People who catch this type of pneumonia already have a weakened immune system from surgery, illness or some kind of trauma. Some of the other risk factors include: the age of the person (the young and the old are at a higher risk); having lung, liver, heart or kidney problems; having one or more immune system diseases; and taking immune-suppressing medications.
Bacterial organisms are most often the cause of this type of pneumonia and these types of infections can be hard to treat as some of them are resistant to antibodies and have been given the name “super bugs.” One of these “super bugs” is the MRSA bacteria. To treat this pneumonia the infectious agent must first be identified so that the correct antibodies can be given.
Hospital-acquired pneumonia has less treatment effective rate compared to community-acquired pneumonia and can be fatal. It can extend a person’s hospital stay by as much as nine days. There are around 300,000 case of this type of pneumonia reported annually and the mortality rate can range anywhere from 30 to 70 percent.
Thu, Jul 1, 2010
Health, aging