Health encyclopaedia

Health encyclopaedia - Alphabetical Topic List

Chest infection

Chest infections include a variety of illnesses ranging from mild respiratory illness to life-threatening conditions including:

• acute bronchitis - inflammation of the airways due to infection
• making worse chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• community-acquired pneumonia ie caught outside of hospital
• pleurisy - infection of lung linings

Chest infections are very common. Often a specific cause cannot be identified but bacteria and viruses are usually responsible.

Factors which make people more prone to chest infection include:

• other lung conditions such as asthma, bronchitis, cystic fibrosis,
• reduced immune systems and therefore lowered resistance to infection eg people with cancer, diabetes, heart problems,
• reduced mobility,
• smoking,
• exposure to environmental factors eg Legionnaire’s disease, a form of pneumonia caused by bacteria in water,
• exposure to animal germs eg the rare condition psittacosis (parrot fever) caught from infected birds, and
• chest surgery which carries a risk of post-operative infection.

• Symptoms
• Causes
• Diagnosis
• Treatment
• Prevention

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