The pneumonia of viral origin, such as that caused by the new coronavirus for which Silvio Berlusconi it is now at the San Raffaele in Milan, a type of pneumonia that often requires hospitalization. Viral pneumonias mainly involve a involvement of interstitial tissue (the one present between one alveolus and the other), that is the deepest part of the lungs. In the most acute forms it can lead to severe respiratory failure in a few days. In the case of Berlusconi we are talking about bilateral pneumonia, it means both lungs have been affected. Il Cavaliere, despite not being in intensive care subjected to oxygen therapy, which consists of administering an additional amount of oxygen for therapeutic purposes due to reduced oxygen levels in the blood.
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Symptoms of bilateral pneumonia
The most typical symptoms – he explains Sergio Harari, director of the Department of Medicine and the Pneumology Unit of the San Giuseppe MultiMedica hospital in Milan – I am fever, cough, shortness of breath, chills, fatigue, general malaise. They are not always all present at the same time. There are also more rare symptoms such as sputum with blood. If chest pain is present it means that the process has come to touch the pleura.
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Diagnosis of bilateral pneumonia
Radiological diagnosis – explains Harari – but in many cases even a complete evaluation of the patient’s symptoms and a visit with auscultation may suffice. Blood tests are not always necessary and sometimes chest x-rays can be dispensed with, for example in children and pregnant women, where chest ultrasound can help to avoid radiological exposure. In some cases, however, the chest X-ray may be negative, making one necessary Tac, an examination to which Silvio Berlusconi was subjected and which highlighted bilateral pneumonia at the early stage.
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Who is most at risk with bilateral pneumonia
Who are the people most at risk? Those suffering from chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardio-respiratory diseases (asthma, chronic bronchitis, heart failure), then smokers, the elderly (those over 65 have a triple risk compared to younger people), children and all immunosuppressed people – explains the expert -. Mortality from pneumonia is concentrated in these categories, in our country about 150 thousand cases of pneumonia are hospitalized every year and 9 thousand deaths are recorded, which represent one of the lowest figures in all of Europe, but it is still important, concludes the expert.
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September 4, 2020 (change September 4, 2020 | 11:17)
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