The
Lung
facts
facts
Advocating Lung Health Through Awareness and Action
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019, also known as COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2), a member of a virus family of Coronaviridae. The disease was first detected in December 2019 in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in China. Since then the disease has spread to more than 200 countries resulting in pandemic, infecting more than 1.4 million people (as of 8 April 2020), resulting in more than 83,000 deaths.
Common symptoms are fever, cough and shortness of breath. Other symptoms are sore throat, running nose, fatigue, muscle ache, diarrhoea and loss of smell. The majority of cases are mild but a small percentage will progress to pneumonia which can be severe and fatal.
The virus is mainly spread by droplets produced when those infected cough, sneeze or talk. This normally takes place during close contact. The droplets may also be produced during breathing but will not travel far. The infection can also be contacted when people touch contaminated surface of various objects and then touch their face. The diagnosis is confirmed by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) from nasopharyngeal swab.
Asthma
Asthma is a common lung disease affecting about 300 million people worldwide. In Malaysia it is estimated about 1.5 million people of all ages suffer from asthma. As many as 50% children with asthma missed school and about a third of adults missed work because of asthma and many of these patients had to be hospitalized and experienced symptoms of uncontrolled disease. Suboptimal treatment and inadequate knowledge about the illness are factors contributed to poor control of asthma.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease disease affects almost exclusively adult smokers. Initial symptoms include cough with sputum production and difficulty in breathing initially on severe exertion but later on may be so debilitating that even walking a few steps can be a real struggle. In the terminal stage of the illness many patients would require continuous oxygen supplement to alleviate their breathlessness.
Bronchopulmonary dysplasia
Bronchopulmonary dysplasia is a lung disease that occurs in premature neonates who needed oxygen therapy or mechanical ventilation during their early lives. The lung damage can be severe that long term oxygen may be required for many of these infants for a considerable period of time.
Education Material
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