How To Know If Your Child Has Pneumonia

Abdominal Pain

As explained in the previous page, there are some cases of pneumonia in which the viruses and bacteria make their way up the trachea (windpipe) to the throat, and back down into the intestines and stomach. These pathogens then irritate the stomach and intestines, which can then manifest as pain.

If the infected part is toward the lower part of the lungs, a child suffering from pneumonia may also feel pain in the abdominal area, even if the stomach and intestines have not been directly affected by the pathogens. This pain would have been emanating from the lungs, except that the lungs do not have “pain nerves”. Thus, the pain is referred to the nearest area with “pain nerves”. In this case, that would be the abdomen. Because abdominal pain is often correlated to only the stomach, it is often overlooked as a symptom of pneumonia or any other respiratory tract infection.