When does a chest infection become pneumonia?

[meltedmarsbars]

when do you take your dc to the dr for a chest infection?
Does it turn into pneumonia at a certain point?

Just wondering, as dd2 moans quietly on the sofa...

Think would take to docs for chest infection anyway, often needs antibiotics to clear. With pneumonia would be extremely poorly, lips poss turning blue, coughing up blood tinged phlegm.

Meant to add, in my knowledge, others (who maybe work in health profession) may have more accurate info.

She's already on low-level prophylactic antibiotics all winter as she has bronchiectasis.

Lips look fine, not coughing up much of anything (doesn't really have a good cough).

I just wondered if there is a definition.

When DS had pneumonia the main sign of it was his temperature which was well above 40 - it felt like he was on fire. When we got to hospital it wasn't until they measured his oxygen levels and saw they were low, then did a chest x-ray that they realised it was pneumonia. Surprisingly he'd only been ill for a day or so beforehand.

Ooh, you're all scaring me!

She's chesty, hot and sleepy, but then I have dosed her up with paracetamol so I'd expect her to sleep a lot to recover iyswim.

Sorry didn't mean to scare you. I guess keep an eye on the temp - if Calpol/Nurofen isn't helping I'd take her back to the drs.

DD gets very bad chest infections but no pneumonia yet.

chest infections and pneumonia are ends of the same spectrum

all a diagnosis of pneumonia means is that the infective changes in the lung can be seen on a chest x-ray.

You can have no x-ray changes and be incredibly sick, or lots of shadowing (meaning infective consolidation) on the x-ray and be happy and running around.

DS's only symptoms of pneumonia were a stomach ache and a high temperature. No breathing problems at all. He was a teenager so well able to report any symptoms.
It was only that he had a fc that he was taken to hospital, and they took an xray that showed up a shadow on his lung that I think that he was diagnosed with pneumonia.

DS1 had pneumonia without symptoms, just a dry, tedious cough at night, then mild temp 37.5. Went to doc, as it didn't seem to get better, and we discovered with X-Ray that almost half of his right lung was invaded. It is called atypical pneumonia and it's bacterial.
So, if you have any doubt, do not hesitate. I certainly don't now.

@gordonpym I know this thread is 9 years old but do you remember what antibiotics they prescribed for it?