Professor Tobias Welte (Germany) - President of the European Respiratory Society (ERS), one of the most prestigious organizations in the respiratory field.
Professor at the Medical University of Hannover and a leading expert in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), respiratory infections and respiratory intensive care.
Professor Tobias Welte and associates at St. Luke's Medical Center.
In order to improve the effectiveness of lung disease treatment in the Philippines, we invited Professor Tobias Welte to attend and share at the seminar about his new treatment method - a method that is being applied and effective in the US and Europe.
Reporter:
“Professor, what are the lung diseases that people in the Philippines are most susceptible to today? And why are they so dangerous to the health of patients?”
GS. Tobias Welte:
“In the Philippines, I often encounter four common lung diseases: pneumonia, tuberculosis, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and lung cancer. Each disease has its own potential risks, but they all have one thing in common: they directly impair respiratory function – that is, they take away the ability to breathe, the most basic source of human life. I will analyze these diseases in more detail for you:
1. COPD – Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease According to WHO, COPD is the third leading cause of death globally, and in the Philippines there are millions of people who have not been diagnosed and most people are still vague about this disease.
Causes: Smoking (active and passive) is the number 1 cause; in addition, it is caused by air pollution, kitchen smoke, industrial smoke, occupational dust (miners, welders, long-time cooks).
Symptoms:
Risks:
- Prolonged cough, phlegm, wheezing.
- Shortness of breath during exercise, later difficulty breathing even when resting.
- Poor sleep due to shortness of breath at night, fatigue, weight loss.
- Chronic disease, cannot be completely cured - irreversible lung damage.
- Causes gradual reduction in lung capacity, patients must use oxygen tanks long-term.
- Easy to have an acute attack (severe shortness of breath), can be life-threatening.
- Increased risk of complications of respiratory failure, right heart failure.
2. Pneumonia
Cause: usually caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi; common in people with weak resistance or living in polluted environments.
Symptoms: high fever > 38°C, cough with yellow/green phlegm, chest pain, shortness of breath, chills, fatigue.
Risk: the disease can get worse quickly in a few days, causing acute respiratory failure, especially in young children and the elderly; if not treated promptly, it can be fatal.
3. Pulmonary Tuberculosis (TB)
Cause: Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria, transmitted through the respiratory tract when inhaling droplets from a sick person.
Symptoms: cough lasting > 2 weeks, coughing up blood, rapid weight loss, night sweats, mild fever in the afternoon, loss of appetite.
Risk: destroys lung tissue, leaving permanent fibrosis; can spread rapidly in the community; if not treated adequately, the disease is easily resistant to drugs and has a high mortality rate.
4. Lung Cancer
Causes: mainly due to smoking, exposure to secondhand smoke, air pollution, charcoal smoke, or occupational factors (asbestos dust, chemicals).
Symptoms: persistent cough, chest pain, hoarseness, difficulty breathing, coughing up blood, sudden weight loss.
Risk: often detected late when the tumor has metastasized to the liver, brain, bones; is the leading cause of death among cancers.
It can be seen that lung diseases do not stop at pneumonia, tuberculosis, COPD or lung cancer, but also include other chronic conditions such as bronchitis, asthma, or pulmonary fibrosis. What is worrying is that most of these diseases start with symptoms very similar to the common cold such as prolonged cough, mild fever, transient shortness of breath, fatigue or chest tightness. This confusion causes many patients to be subjective, ignoring the golden period for early treatment, leading to severe disease progression and easy dangerous complications.