My friend and neighbor has had respiratory problems since March.  She went to the emergency room and was told she has a low white blood count, but also has a really bad respiratory infection or pneumonia. Could you tell me what are the possibilities? They did send her to a hospital in another co.
Thanks for your question on Chat Doctor. I can understand your concern. Pneumonia is an infection most commonly caused by bacteria. But in some cases pneumonia can be caused by fungal infection, parasitic infection, viral infection and tuberculosis. So we need to rule out all these in your friends case. And for this she needs to undergo bronchoscopic evaluation with BAD (bronchoalveolar lavage) analysis and biopsy. These will isolate the causative organism and guide us about effective antibiotic treatment. By this we can reduce total duration of treatment and speed up the recovery. Hope I have solved your query. Wishing good health to your friend. Thanks.