What Is Pleurisy And What Causes It?

Bacterial Infections

Pleurisy is always the result of inflammation, and in general, inflammation is the body's response to an infectious disease. This means one of the potential causes of pleurisy is simply bacterial infections. When the body can tell bacteria have invaded it, it will respond by raising temperatures and producing white blood cells to hunt down the bacteria. Keep in mind a random bacterial infection anywhere in the body is not likely to cause pleurisy. Inflammation tends to be centralized around the threatening infection, so it normally will not reach the lungs unless the bacterial infection itself is in the lungs. A wide range of bacterial infections can affect the lungs, including strep throat, bacterial pneumonia, mycoplasma infections, and Haemophilus influenzae infections. The exact symptoms of these infections vary depending on what type individuals have, but typically a bacterial infection of the lungs causes fatigue, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, fevers, coughs, and sneezes.

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Sickle Cell Disease

Sickle cell disease is a rare blood condition where the red blood cells in an individual's bloodstream are shaped like narrow sickles instead of being rounded shapes, which keeps the red blood cells from being able to function properly. This causes a wide host of issues, including anemia, extreme fatigue, jaundice, swelling of the extremities, and chronic pain. Patients with this disease tend to have crises where they experience all of these symptoms quite severely due to a higher than normal buildup of sickle cells. During this time, the overall increase in inflammation and system-wide distress can make a patient end up with pleurisy. Keep in mind individuals with sickle cell disease can also have a life-threatening condition called acute chest syndrome, which causes trouble breathing and sharp chest pains. Therefore, it is important for patients with sickle cell disease to seek medical treatment if they have chest pain instead of simply assuming it is pleurisy.

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