How Are Pneumonia and Bronchitis Treated?

Most people with pneumonia can be treated at home if their disease is found early enough. Early treatment may prevent life-threatening complications. But people who are elderly or are immune-compromised usually need to be in the hospital. Their risk of death may be higher than 15 percent. Serious cases often require hospital treatment.

Pneumonia treatment

In young and healthy patients, early antibiotic treatment can cure bacterial pneumonia and can improve recovery from other organisms (mycoplasma, chlamydia). However, there's no good treatment for viral pneumonia. Your doctor will see what's causing the infection and decide which drugs to use.

A healthy young person may recover completely within one week. Older patients take longer (several weeks) to recover. Supportive treatment includes proper hydration, oxygen when needed and medication for chest pain.

Acute bronchitis treatment

The best way to treat bronchitis is to get lots of rest, stay indoors if the weather is cold and windy and drink lots of fluid to help liquefy mucus. Mucus should be coughed up, so avoid using cough suppressants. Almost all cases are caused by viruses, so antibiotics won't help. Less than 0.2 percent of patients who have acute bronchitis go on to develop anything as severe as pneumonia.

Your doctor may prescribe or recommend an expectorant medication (mucolytics) to help loosen mucus, or bronchodilators (albuterol) to open air passages and relieve severe cough.

Supportive treatments include:

• Rest
• Staying indoors if weather is bad
• Increased humidity (cool mist humidifier) to soothe air passages
• Increased fluids to avoid dehydration and thin out mucous secretions

Symptoms usually go away within seven to 10 days in patients with no prior chronic pulmonary disease. However, some cases of viral bronchitis may take up to four weeks to completely clear up, especially in smokers and asthmatics.

Source:

American Lung Association

This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.