You were in the hospital with pneumonia, and they didn’t test for a bacterial infection? I find that hard to believe. And no, they don’t just hit the body with all the tools they have.
In 97 when my father was hospitalized with pneumonia they tested and found it was bacterial and thus able to target the infection with not only antibiotics but specific ones that work best against that strain of bacteria.
Same when he was hospitalized with meningitis in 93. If they would have assumed it was viral he would have died.
But he had had a bad allergic reaction to penicillin when he was in the army, nearly died. But penicillin was the best antibiotic to use against the bacterial meningitis. An allergy specialist was brought in from Johns Hopkins who performed tests and while he did have a slight reaction, it was life or death so the risk of giving it to him outweighed the risk of not giving it to him. The infectious disease specialist also brought in from Johns Hopkins agreed. It still took nearly 3 months before he was released from the hospital.
With influenza or COVID (which is a virus but not an influenza virus) nowadays doctors, good ones at least, do not prescribe antibiotics without first testing for a secondary bacterial infection.
FWIW, my father died in 97 from the bacterial pneumonia because it was an antibacterial resistant bacterial strain – every antibiotic they tried didn’t work. I recall talking with the doctor at Hopkins where he was hospitalized telling me that bacterial pneumonia was becoming more and more difficult to treat because of the overuse of antibiotics to treat viral infections where there is no secondary bacterial infection, and also people not taking them as prescribed, i.e. taking them until they feel better instead of taking the full course as prescribed, thus creating these so called “superbugs”.
I appreciate the reply. No, in 1993 they didn’t test for flu or a virus. They assumed I had the flu, and a secondary bacterial infection. Last December, they only x-rayed my lungs, said I had glass lung pneumonia and gave me nothing. There were no tests, except I tested + for covid 7 days earlier. The only two tests for specific diseases I have had in my life was for Strep throat, and a persistent ear infection in which they tested in the manner you suggested, for a specific medication. They ended up giving my Garamycin drops. I remember the name because this infection lasted for several months, and I was at my wits end. I lost some hearing function over it and I was about 27 years old. Most doctors I have visited are the “10 minute appt” types, where you talk to the NP or something, and the Dr looks through the door.