is ds more prone to getting pneumonia if he's already had it once?

[juicychops]

ds (7) had pneumonia last year and was in hospital for 4 days as he was quite poorly.

he now has another chest infection, although apparently viral rather than bacterial pneumonia. is he more at risk of it developing into pneumonia if he's had it once, or does it not work like that?

Just asking as he's quite poorly today (although not as bad as last time)

bump

Depends on how severe his pneumonia was and how well his lungs have recovered.

It is possible that his lungs have not fully recovered/scarring and then he may be more prone to get it again.

There is not much you can do apart from being really vigilant and to stay on top of it. If in doubt seek timely help and tell doctors he has already once been hospitalized with pneumonia. I do find that it makes doctors erring on the side of caution once they are aware of this.

Did he get the flu vaccine? If not, I would consider that as well at the earliest opportunity (when he is well again of course).

If your worried get him checked.

DS is 3 and has had pneumonia 4 times BUT he has permanent damage to his lung and apparently he gets a form of pnenmonia which sits dormant until he is ill.

i took him to the hospital a & e last night to get his chest listened to as his breathing was dodgy but they said it was pretty much clear, he's just got a viral chest infection although they have given him antibiotics 'just in case' as his temp took ages to go down after 2 lots of medicine.

last year when he had pneumonia he was so ill with a virus for 2 weeks but 3 times they said his chest was clear, it was only on the 4th visit to the docs that they said it had progressed into pneumonia so im a bit wary of that happening again this time.

i think il take him to the docs tomorrow and ask them to check his chest again. when we were in the hospital i didn't bring up the pneumonia last time as i assumed they would have seen it on his records?

That depends on the hospital, I know at ours the records are stored off site and only moved across if they are admitted. I have to give a full history for DS everytime we go in.

No, do bring it up each time you see a doctor.

It is very hard to diagnose pneumonia through listening to the chest. My dc was seen by a GP, having had two weeks of very high non responsive fever, and I was consistently told that it was a virus. On the afternoon she stopped breathing I was told by the same GP that I was wasting valuable NHS resources and that I was an overanxious mother. Two hours later dc stopped breathing. In hospital dc had a chest X ray and both lungs were almost fully filled with fluid, it was very very serious. Dc has permanent lung damage but more importantly survived.

So, if necessary, go again, seek medical help if you think it is needed. Pneumonia can be a killer.

sorry, only just seen replies. wow dikkert, that must have been so scary.

ds slept in my bed last night as wanted him near me in case of emergency, but he was fine. coughing lots but his temp went down and i gave him some more medicine in the night. he seems a bit brighter in himself this morning so am no longer worrying that its anything worse than a viral chest infection, although will still be keeping a close eye on him.

hopefully he'll be better for xmas. i have work tomorrow, thurs, fri and xmas eve. i have enough holiday to cover this week if i need it, but i need to pay £26 in advance to put him in holiday club xmas eve which i don't get refunded if he doesn't go, and i have no other holiday to cover that day if i can't go in so would have to take it unpaid. these are the times i hate being a single parent!!

I'm glad he seems to be improving. If you are at all concerned, do go back. At 5 months ds had a 'viral chest infection/bronchiolitis' and I became v concerned that they were missing something and took him to A&E (GP said viral). On admission his sats were in the low 80s, his heartrate 212 and he had blue lips. He was given immediate oxygen and admitted. The consultant listened to his chest and said it was clear. The nurse (I owe her everything) who was doing his obs had a stand up row with him. She said if he didn't order an xray, she would do it in his name and she'd nursed long enough to know pneumonia when she saw it. She helped me take ds down to xray and was lovely. She said she'd bet her last bar of chocolate on it being pneumonia and promised me that once he was on double dose antibiotics, he'd be a different baby. He was hooked up to all sorts of stuff and I wasn't allowed to hold him at all. The results were back on the ward before we were. He had pneumonia and was v poorly. The consultant was waiting for me and extremely apologetic.

They did say that it could cause issues if he had scarring but so far 10 months later, he's never had another bacterial infection.