Sheldon O., 1

Baby Sheldon has been unwell for the past 2 days. He initially had several episodes of loose stool which was followed by persistent coughing and vomiting after feeding. He has also been having a running nose and a fever. The running nose caused the child to have nasal congestion and difficulty in breathing. He was vomiting anything he took in and was slowly getting dehydrated.

Sheldon`s mother reports that the baby has had 5 days history of vomiting,multiple episodes in a day with associated hotness of the body ,also Sheldon is reported to have had a wet cough for the same duration with associated nasal congestion. He has also had episodes of loose stool,4 episodes in 24 hours and runny nose. Laboratory tests were done to confirm the diagnosis and these included stool for microscopy ,full haemogram and blood smear for malaria parasites. The patient was nebulized with ventolin to relieve the congestion and antibiotics initiated immediately for the treatment of the pneumonia. Amoxiclav was given to the patient,calpol for the relief of the hotness of the body ,oral rehydration solution was also given to treat dehydration which is a common complication of passing episodes of loose stool,zinc sulphate was given to help in repairing the epithelial lining of the gut and salbutamol for relief of congestion. Sheldon was brought to the hospital for review, one week after, and it was confirmed that he is doing well

Pneumonia should be treated with antibiotics. If left untreated, pneumonia may lead to the permanent lung damage, respiratory failure, septicaemia (infection entering blood stream and causing sepsis), pleural effusion (accumulation of fluid in the space between the lung and chest wall, which can make breathing difficult), and other life-threatening complications.