Pharmacology of Acute Respiratory Infection Answer 2022

Running head: PHARMACOLOGY OF ACUTE RESPIRATORY INFECTION
PHARMACOLOGY OF ACUTE RESPIRATORY INFECTION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1PHARMACOLOGY OF ACUTE RESPIRATORY INFECTION
Table of Contents
Answer 1....................................................................................................................................2
Answer 2....................................................................................................................................2
Answer 3....................................................................................................................................3
Answer 4....................................................................................................................................6
Answer 5....................................................................................................................................7
Bibliographic citations...............................................................................................................8

2PHARMACOLOGY OF ACUTE RESPIRATORY INFECTION
Answer 1
The diagnosis for Mr. Smith’s four year old is acute upper respiratory viral infection and
probable ear infection triggered by the low immunity generated by the acute upper respiratory
viral infection.
Answer 2
The upper respiratory tract includes the airways from nostrils to vocal cords present inside the
larynx along with the nasal cavity including the paranasal sinuses along with the inner and
middle ear (Eccles, 2012). One of the most common infections in children includes upper
respiratory tract infection which is associated with common cold, pharyngitis, sinusitis and
ear infections.
Mr. Smith’s four year old has presented with mild erythemic throat without any exudate, pain
in the right ear, sneezing, mild cough, with a low-grade 100 degrees fever for last 72 hours
which are the pathophysiological traits of acute upper respiratory infection. Chronic diseases
are diseases that are long lasting diseases which are managed with medical interventions and
generally not curable. Here, the symptoms can be observed for the past 72 hours making it an
acute infection. Other than that, both the ears showed mild pink tympanic membranes with
good vibrations and the child has clear lungs which are suggestive of the acute upper
respiratory infection being viral in etiology as infections caused by bacteria such as
Streptococcus pneumonia, Mycoplasma pneumonia and so on tend to produce congestion in
the lungs (Wong, Blumberg & Lowe, 2016). Pain in the right ear might be due to bacterial
infection which has occurred due to reduced immunity caused by the acute respiratory tract
viral infection. Compromised immunity has triggered bacterial infection in the ear leading to
the pain in the right ear (King et al., 2015).

3PHARMACOLOGY OF ACUTE RESPIRATORY INFECTION
Answer 3
Acute upper respiratory tract viral infection in children is frequent in the medical practice.
The health care professionals in the society serve a significant role in treating and managing
children along with providing the parents of the ailing children with reassurance,
symptomatic management plan and guidance of the essential care plan structured for the
pharmacologic and non pharmacologic interventions required for the treatment of the
children with acute upper respiratory infection (Wong, Blumberg & Lowe, 2016).
Pharmacologic interventions:
The pharmacologic intervention must be comprised of symptomatic treatment for the acute
upper respiratory tract viral infection and antibiotic treatment for the ear infection triggered
by the low immunity caused by the acute upper respiratory tract viral infection (King et al.,
2015). The basic constituents of the medication for the symptomatic treatment of the acute
upper respiratory tract viral infection generally include first generation antihistamines to
reduce sneezing (Anagnostou, Swan & Brough, 2016), antipyretics and analgesic like
paracetamol 60mg/kg/day to control the fever along with reducing the pain in the right ear
(Kanabar, 2017) and cough suppressants such as dextromethorphan, expectorants to help
reduce the cough (Chandelia, Dhankar & Salhan, 2016).
Children of 4 years of age are generally prescribed antibiotic treatment for five days to
manage ear infections. Amoxicillin 80mg/kg/day must be given to manage the ear infection
(Dagan et al., 2017). Analgesic ear drops with benzocaine can also be used to reduce ear pain
(Sarrell, Cohen & Kahan 2016).