Buckingham Palace has announced that the Duke of Edinburgh has been admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital in London for treatment for a chest infection.
Earlier this week Prince Phillip, 86, had asked for some engagements to be cancelled as he had been suffering from a "heavy cold". His last official public role was during President Nicolas Sarkozy's state visit to Britain last week.
Dr Keith Prowse, Chairman of the British Lung Foundation said, ‘Chest infections are extremely common in the UK. They are caused by viruses or bacteria and can vary in severity from mild bronchitis to a very severe infection or pneumonia. Most chest infections cause the lining of the air tubes of the lungs to become inflamed and they produce more mucus than usual so the person affected needs to cough it up.'
‘They give more cause for concern when the person affected is either very young or very old, or has other health problems, because they have less resistance and the risk of complications like pneumonia is greater. Hospital care would ensure the patient is under close observation and that their sputum can be examined to see which antibiotics are most suitable. Many patients have a chest x-ray to see if there is any localised pneumonia or to track how well the infection is responding to treatment. In older patients complications are more frequent and so they often need to be closely observed.’
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