Today, November 12, is the World Pneumonia Day 2022. The day is being celebrated in Bangladesh like all over the world. The Pneumonia Day was observed for the first time in 2009 on November 2. Later, since 2010, it is being observed every year on the 12th of November. Especially during winter, the incidence of this disease, increases in children and the elderly people. The importance of the day is very important to create awareness among the people to save billions of people from this complex disease of the respiratory system. Around the world, about 450 million people are affected by pneumonia every year. About 25 thousand children die of pneumonia every year in Bangladesh. And the prevalence of pneumonia is higher in developing countries. Children under the age of five and the elderly are most affected by pneumonia, and children die most. Men are more affected than women.
Pneumonia is a disease complicated by inflammation of the lungs or respiratory system. Infection of the lung parenchyma or air sac with germs such as bacteria, virus, etc. causes chest pain, shortness of breath, cough, which is known as pneumonia. It is a very common and ancient lung disease. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, described this disease two and a half thousand years ago. In the case of children, there are some differences in pathogens depending on age.
Dr. MM Mazed, a prominent researcher of Bangladesh and the founder of the Jatiya Rogi Kalyan Society, wrote in his column....Pneumonia is caused by chronic cold, accumulation of mucus in the chest. Sudden heat after monsoon increases the prevalence of this disease. Not everyone will get pneumonia when they catch a cold, but those with low immunity, mainly the elderly and children, are more affected by this disease.
The primary symptom of pneumonia is high fever. Even if the medicine reduces the fever, the fever suddenly increases when the effect of the medicine stops. Fever can rise to 103-104 degrees. Along with this there is shortness of breath, chest pain, etc. Sometimes headache, gradual weakness, reluctance to eat and drink are also symptoms of pneumonia. However, by touching a patient with pneumonia, the germs of pneumonia do not spread in the body. But it can spread from the cough or sneeze of the victim. However, there are several differences between pneumonia and cold-fever. It is easy to diagnose the disease, if you pay a little attention. According to the doctor, initially this disease starts with common fever-cold-cough, but with time, fever, shortness of breath increase and the cough also increases. Sometimes the fever comes back even after taking a strong dose of fever medicine. If the condition is serious, blood may come up with the cough. If these symptoms appear, you should go to the doctor without delay. Only a doctor can tell if a person is suffering from pneumonia or not. However, to be sure, some tests should be done.
• Symptoms of Pneumonia:
• Fever. It is usually high. Also there may be cough, rapid breathing, wheezing, shortness of breath or laboured breathing, chest tightness, chest pain, not wanting to eat or not being able to eat, feeling lethargic and like vomiting. A child with pneumonia has rapid breathing. Babies under two months of age may breathe 60 times a minute or more. A child with pneumonia between the ages of two months and 12 months breathes 50 breaths or more per minute, and a one-year-old child breathes 40 breaths or more per minute. If these symptoms appear, the doctor should be seen immediately. Remember that delaying treatment is a cause of death in children with pneumonia. The incidence of pneumonia is high in winter. So don't delay if the above symptoms appear in winter. Pneumonia is a serious disease but it is preventable. Breastfeeding babies exclusively for six months reduces the risk of pneumonia. Do not feed the baby powdered milk. Infants who are colostrum-fed have a four times higher incidence of the disease than others. Child malnutrition causes pneumonia. Therefore, child nutrition should be ensured. In winter, healthy children should not be allowed to visit children with pneumonia. Do not allow children to go in front of people with sneezing and coughing. Maintain cleanliness. That is, washing hands and face with soap after coming from outside. Do not allow the child to go in the crowd i.e. in large gatherings.
• Causes of Pneumonia in Children:
• Pneumonia can be caused by various pathogens, e.g. viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites - most commonly pneumonia is caused by adenovirus, rhinovirus, influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus and parainfluenza virus.
It may vary by age. That is, respiratory viral pneumonia, streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae are more common in children under five years of age. Mycoplasma pneumonia is most common in children between 5 and 13 years of age. Children with bacterial pneumonia usually get sick quickly, and those with viruses develop symptoms more slowly and are less severe.
• Symptoms of Pneumonia in Children
• Symptoms in children can be less specific and they may not show obvious signs of chest infection. Some common symptoms of infection in children are -
1. Fever. 2. Lack of energy. 3. Rapid shallow breathing with loud noises. 4. Difficulty in feeding. 5.Fatigue.
• Prevention of Pneumonia in Children:
The following steps can be taken to reduce the risk of this infection in a child or children -a) Breastfeeding to boost the child's immunity, b) Keeping the room warm and well ventilated, c) Cold, flu or other infections-avoid contact with the person and check the child's temperature at least once every morning and evening. If the temperature is higher than 38°C, contact the doctor.
• Some basic suggestions for pneumonia patients:
• Affected patients should be kept away from smoking. The patient should also be kept away from passive smoking.
• Keep away from any contamination. Smoke, dust, mosquito coils should be removed from the patient's room.
• Dehydration is bad for pneumonia patients. So the patient should eat a lot of water and fluids.
• Do not try to bring down the fever by taking fever reducing medicine frequently but take the medicine according to the doctor's advice.
• The patient should also be kept away from cold weather.
• If you have asthma, follow the restrictions of use as prescribed by an experienced homeopath.
• Patients suffering from heart and liver diseases and diabetics can take homeopathic treatment against pneumonia with doctor's advice.
• Homeo remedies:
The patient is treated, not the disease. So an experienced doctor, according to Hahnemann's principles of homeopathy, can treat any complex and difficult disease, including pneumonia. It can be cured by the grace of God with the help of homeopathy treatment. All the medicines which are selected by the experienced doctors are highlighted below:-
• Bryonia:
Bryonia medicine is a great mercy of God for Pneumonia. Generally, low strength doses require frequent dosing for a few days, but high strength doses (10,000 or 50,000 etc.) require a couple of doses. Yes, more complicated cases may require several days of feeding. If you buy a dram of high-strength Bryonia in pills, mix a pill with half a bottle of water and give it to the patient 3 times a day or more often with a teaspoonful of water; Thus after two days, four days or six days when the pneumonia will be cured, if you calculate, you will see that pneumonia treatment cost you 10 paise or 20 paise oor more. However, to cure pneumonia in allopathy, high-power antibiotic injections worth 500 taka have to be given 14 times. Doctor's fees, various types of tests, hospital bed charges, etc., all together, in many cases, the bill is seen to be half a lakh rupees. Then is not homeopathy a great mercy of God for mankind?
• Aconite:
If you see a child patient suddenly starts screaming continuously nothing can stop the screaming. Think of it as an early sign of pneumonia. In such a situation, apply Aconite 30 strength. And if you see that the patient has chest pain with dry cough, fear of death, restlessness and thirst for water, then Aconite is an excellent medicine.
• Antimonium tartaricum:
The main symptom of anti-tart is when you hear the sound of coughing, it seems that a lot of phlegm has accumulated in the chest, but no phlegm comes out. Cough increases when you are angry or eat and drink. There will be a white coating on the tongue, tremors in the body, sleepiness and stomach problems. Itching causes the child to vomit and after vomiting he gets relief for a while. Due to the difficulty in breathing, the nostrils rise rapidly.
• Epicac:
Epicac is another essential medicine for pneumonia in children. Its main symptom is vomiting (with any disease) and clear tongue. This medicine is the best friend of children. Because, children are more prone to stomach ailments and cough-pneumonia and Epicac works great in these diseases.
• Phosphorus:
When there is Pneumonia or any such dangerous disease, we must keep in mind that the main symptom of phosphorus is that the patient wants to drink ice-cold water, heat seems to be coming out of the spine, burning in the palm of the hand, fear of being alone, fear of the dark, etc. If there are symptoms, it will cure cataracts in your eyes.
*Sulfur:
Sulfur is one of the most versatile medicines. If symptoms of sulfur are found in pneumonia, sulfur should be administered. The easiest way to know which patient should be given sulfur is to see that the pores on the patient's body will turn bright red. If you see that the inside of the patient's mouth, inside the nose, toilet or urinary tract the colour is bright red, then you can safely give him sulphur. Sulfur will continue even if there are no other symptoms. Let it be said, among the main symptoms of Sulfur are very hungry around 11 o'clock in the morning. Many other medicines can be used. So consult an experienced homeopath without self-medicating.
Finally, Pneumonia can be easily cured by homeopathy treatment. The main symptom of pneumonia is frequent breathing and difficulty in breathing. In poor third-world countries like us, if one hundred children die, ninety-five of them die of pneumonia. Along with fever, cough, headache, chest pain, feeling very cold, etc. every parent should treat a child's breathing problem as an emergency. However, the high-power, dangerously-toxic antibiotics that are fed to children in the allopathic treatment of pneumonia, can cause permanent damage to the children's health due to their toxic effects. As a result, some become skeletons for a few years and some for the rest of their lives.
Dr. Muhammad Mahtab Hossain Mazed, doctor, researcher and columnist, is founder of Jatiya Rogi Kalyan Society
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