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Wang Xiang Yu
Pulmonology
About me
Loudi Central Hospital, Department of Respiratory Medicine, attending physician, has been engaged in clinical work in respiratory medicine for many years, and has rich clinical experience in the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory system diseases.
Proficient in diseases
Specializes in common respiratory diseases such as upper respiratory tract infections, pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and tuberculosis.
Voices
Does tuberculosis cause fever?
Does tuberculosis cause fever? Certainly, fever can occur. Fever is one of the most common clinical manifestations of tuberculosis, which can be mild or high fever. Most cases of tuberculosis mainly present as afternoon febrile flushes, or say, an evening low-grade fever. In a few cases, such as infectious pneumonia or more severe infections like tuberculous pleurisy, there can be high fever, and these fever episodes may last a long time and be recurrent, making them difficult to control.
Upper respiratory tract infection complications
Upper respiratory tract infections, also known as URIs, refer to acute inflammation occurring from the external nostril to the lower edge of the cricoid cartilage, commonly affecting the nasal cavities, pharynx, and larynx. Most patients with upper respiratory infections experience mild symptoms and a short disease course, generally having a good prognosis with self-recovery. However, a small subset of upper respiratory tract infections can lead to complications such as sinusitis, otitis media, and tracheobronchitis. Some infections that manifest primarily as pharyngitis can lead to secondary conditions like rheumatic fever and glomerulonephritis caused by Streptococcus. In these cases, the prognosis may not be as favorable. Additionally, a small number of patients might develop more severe illnesses, such as viral myocarditis, which significantly affects the prognosis. Therefore, upper respiratory tract infections should not be underestimated, and proactive prevention and treatment are essential.
Is bronchiectasis dangerous?
Whether bronchiectasis is dangerous depends on the extent of the patient's bronchiectasis and whether they have other comorbidities. If the patient's bronchiectasis is relatively limited and actively treated, they can still survive for a long time. Clinically, we often see elderly people in their seventies or eighties with bronchiectasis, but their medical history can often span decades and even trace back to childhood. In such cases, bronchiectasis does not pose a significant danger to their lifespan. However, if the bronchiectasis is more extensive and has damaged lung function, it can lead to respiratory failure, pulmonary heart disease, and other dangerous conditions, possibly resulting in death. Additionally, bronchiectasis can cause severe hemoptysis. If severe hemoptysis occurs suddenly, it is generally difficult to rescue in time, severely affecting their prognosis and can cause death within a short time, within minutes.
What are the symptoms of pneumonia?
Pneumonia can have many manifestations, and each person's symptoms can be different. It is highly heterogeneous, varying from mild to severe and can last for short or long durations. The main factors depend on the type of pathogen involved and the state of the body. The most common symptoms of pneumonia are coughing and producing sputum. The cough can be mild or severe and may be accompanied by sputum. The amount of sputum can vary and may be yellow, green, red, or rust-colored. Other possible symptoms include chest pain, difficulty breathing, respiratory distress, and most cases of pneumonia also involve fever. The duration and severity of the fever are somewhat related to the course of the illness. However, a small portion of patients may have atypical symptoms, especially older adults, who may not show direct respiratory symptoms but instead exhibit consciousness disturbances such as coma, confusion, fatigue, and more.
Asthma attack symptoms
The most common manifestation of an asthma attack is inspiratory difficulty breathing, occurring repeatedly. This respiratory difficulty can present as sitting up to breathe, dry cough, and may include white frothy sputum. Some patients, due to severe hypoxia, may develop cyanosis. Besides these typical symptoms, some patients may have cough-variant asthma or chest tightness-variant asthma. Cough-variant asthma can sometimes involve only coughing, which is mostly severe, dry, and more noticeable at night, unresponsive to antibiotic treatment. Additionally, there is a type of asthma characterized by chest tightness, primarily presenting as chest discomfort, and some patients may also experience nausea or other discomforts.
Can tuberculosis relapse?
Tuberculosis can relapse, and the answer is definitely yes. In clinical practice, we see many patients who have had tuberculosis and, years later, experience a recurrence of the disease, even multiple recurrences. However, the probability of this is generally not high. As long as everyone follows the doctor's instructions for standard anti-tuberculosis treatment and completes the full course of treatment, most patients can be cured. However, there are a few people whose treatment process is not standard, or who stop taking their medication on their own, and these actions can increase the risk of tuberculosis recurrence.
Does tuberculosis cause coughing?
Do tuberculosis patients cough? Most tuberculosis patients can experience coughing, and the duration of the cough is generally quite long, often exceeding two to three weeks and in some cases even reaching over six months to a year. However, there is also a small number of patients who might not cough due to the different types of tuberculosis they have. Additionally, not all cases of coughing indicate tuberculosis. A tuberculosis patient might cough, but they might also not cough, and while a person who coughs could possibly have tuberculosis, not all coughs are due to tuberculosis. There is no definitive equivalence between tuberculosis and coughing. I hope this explanation helps you understand the relationship between tuberculosis and coughing. Thank you.
Are Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Mycoplasma the same?
Are Mycoplasma pneumoniae and mycoplasmas the same? The answer is of course that there are differences. The concept of mycoplasma is quite broad. Mycoplasma, also known as Mollicutes, represents the smallest and simplest of known prokaryotes. There are many types of mycoplasma, and they exist widely in nature. Currently, more than eighty types have been identified, but the most common ones related to human diseases are four types, among which Mycoplasma pneumoniae is the most common. It can cause pulmonary infections. Apart from the common Mycoplasma pneumoniae that causes pulmonary infections, there are other types that can also cause human diseases, such as human mycoplasma, genital mycoplasma, etc. Other types of mycoplasmas primarily cause infections in the urinary or reproductive tracts.
How is Mycoplasma pneumonia treated?
The primary treatment method for Mycoplasma pneumoniae is the use of antimicrobial drugs targeting Mycoplasma pneumoniae. As Mycoplasma is quite unique, being neither bacteria nor virus but a small microorganism that lies between the two, many antibiotics are ineffective against it. Therefore, the choice of antimicrobial drugs is very important in treating Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Currently, the most commonly used are three major classes, the first being macrolides, such as erythromycin, roxithromycin, azithromycin, etc. However, the resistance rate of Mycoplasma to macrolide drugs is relatively high, reaching over forty percent in some regions. Another commonly used class is fluoroquinolones, such as levofloxacin and moxifloxacin, but these drugs can only be used in adults over eighteen years of age. Another option is the tetracycline class, with commonly used drugs including doxycycline. Besides antimicrobial treatment, patients with Mycoplasma pneumoniae often experience severe coughing and phlegm; at this time, we may selectively use some antitussive drugs. Specific drug treatments should be conducted under the guidance of a doctor.
Is chronic bronchitis contagious?
Chronic bronchitis refers to some chronic non-specific inflammation of the bronchial mucosa and surrounding tissues. Its main symptoms are coughing and expectoration, so many people are concerned about the contagion from patients with chronic bronchitis. However, chronic bronchitis itself is not a contagious disease and is not considered for acute infectious disease management. This means that most of the time, it is relatively safe to be in contact with patients suffering from chronic bronchitis. Nonetheless, there are some exceptions, such as certain cases where a chronic bronchitis patient might also be afflicted with mycoplasma infections or certain viral infections, such as H1N1 influenza, H3N2 influenza, or other infections like tuberculosis. In such cases, the chronic bronchitis patient may potentially be infectious.