Pneumonia Signs and Symptoms
Common signs and symptoms of pneumonia include:

•Coughing, which may be productive (produce phlegm or mucus).

•Persistent cough that produce thick or greenish yellow mucus is usually associated with bacterial pneumonia.

•Viral pneumonia is majorly associated with dry cough (unproductive cough) and rhinitis.

•Shortness of breath especially when engaging in physical activities.

•Chest pain that become worse when coughing.

•General malaise (Feeling of tiredness and fatigue).

•Headache and muscle aches.

•High Fever.

•Chills.

•Nausea and vomiting.

•Appetite loss.

•Weight loss.

•Older patients may have delirium and confusion (altered mental state).

•Sweating.

•In children the symptoms may be harder to notice. However they usually show rapid breathing, fever, wheezing due to labored breathing, cough, skin, lips and fingertips appearing bluish. 

•Infants may show wheezing or grunted breathing, fussiness and difficulty feeding and pale skin

Early Warning sign for Pneumonia Infection.
The symptom that appear early in pneumonia are:

  •  Persistent cough with production of green, yellow or bloody mucus.
  • High fever 
  • Headache and muscle pain (myalgia)
  • You may show signs of cyanosis which depict as bluish color on lips and fingertips.


Diagnosis
•Your doctor or healthcare provider will ask you about your medical history to ascertain any pre-existing conditions or history of pneumonia illness.

•A physical exam is conducted which includes listening to your lung using a stethoscope to find out if there are abnormal sounds such as crackling sounds.

•Further tests can be conducted such as carrying out a chest x-ray to check for lung inflammation.

•Sputum culture may also be conducted to ascertain the pathogen causing the infection.

•Similarly a blood culture can be done.

•A CT scan can be conducted to obtain a much clearer image of the lungs.

•Other tests such as complete blood count, pulse oximetry, arterial blood gas and bronchoscopy.Â