Does viral pneumonia tend to present with a prolonged low-grade fever? How is it different from a normal fever?

From a medical point of view, fine fever is indeed divided into five different types, such as residual fever, which is the body temperature that is continuously higher than normal and maintained at 39 °C - 40 °C, which remains high and fluctuates little.

However, this is classified according to the temperature, time, fluctuation range, etc., and although it has a certain relationship with the cause of the disease, it cannot be simply summarized because of bacterial infection or viral infection.

Judging from the symptoms of fever alone, it is impossible to distinguish whether it is a bacterial infection or a viral infection, which is also related to factors such as the location of infection.

Fever, to put it simply, means that the heat production of the human body is greater than the heat dissipation, and the heat in the body cannot be dissipated, so the body temperature will rise. There are many causes of fever, the most common is fever caused by bacterial infection, but also infection with viruses, mycoplasma, fungi and other pathogens. In addition to this, there is also a noninfectious fever, such as that caused by abnormal hormone secretion in patients with hyperthyroidism.

Fever will occur in common pneumonia, and pneumonia caused by new coronavirus infection will also cause fever, so many people want to start with fever to distinguish between ordinary pneumonia and new pneumonia, general viral pneumonia often has a long low-grade fever stage in the early stage because of the long incubation period, while bacterial pneumonia often progresses relatively quickly, and once lobar pneumonia is formed, there will be obvious high fever.

However, fever alone cannot accurately diagnose both. There are many similarities between the two, such as cough, sputum production, etc., especially senile pneumonia, which will also cause dyspnea, etc., which is more difficult to distinguish from new pneumonia.

Judging from the current situation, purely from the perspective of fever symptoms, it is impossible to completely distinguish between the new pneumonia and other pneumonia, and it is recommended that people with cough, dyspnea, and fever symptoms, especially those with a history of contact with Wuhan, report to the isolation as soon as possible, and if necessary, visit a fever clinic for timely treatment, and consider themselves and the people around them.