Viral pneumonia would you give abx?

[Nillarilla]

My dd 14 mos has pneumonia. The ER doc thinks it's viral but prescribed antibiotics to cover all the bases. Would you fill the script? Would you give antibiotics or wait and see?
She has no fever. We took her in because she had not peed in 15 hrs and vomited up her morning nursing and she was very lethargic. She is looking much better tonight but she did this on Saturday night too where she perked up and then looked awful again in the am. I'm scared to give the antibiotics since it's biaxin and that tends to give me and dh terrible diarrhea. With her already only taking in minimal fluids and not peeing much I think this could push her right into dehydration.

[BellinghamCrunchie]

I wouldn't mess around with pneumonia. It can become bacterial because the mucus and junk tends to get trapped in the lungs, bacteria aren't as easily expelled. Also the presence (or absence) of a fever in adults is a pretty good indicator of viral vs. bacterial - in young children, not so much. Their bodies do not always react as predictably and its possible to have bacterial pneumonia without fever.

[A&A]

Originally Posted by BellinghamCrunchie

I wouldn't mess around with pneumonia. It can become bacterial because the mucus and junk tends to get trapped in the lungs, bacteria aren't as easily expelled. Also the presence (or absence) of a fever in adults is a pretty good indicator of viral vs. bacterial - in young children, not so much. Their bodies do not always react as predictably and its possible to have bacterial pneumonia without fever.