Acute Bronchitis
What is acute bronchitis?
Why do people get acute bronchitis?
What are the symptoms of acute bronchitis?
How serious is acute bronchitis?
What is acute bronchitis?
Acute bronchitis is a lung infection. It occurs when the bronchial tree (the tubes that carry air into the lungs) swells and mucus forms. This makes it hard to breathe. People with acute bronchitis may cough up mucus and wheeze.
Why do people get acute bronchitis?
Acute bronchitis is usually caused by certain viruses. When someone with the viruses coughs, a virus can be sprayed into the air or onto their hands. Then, when another person breathes in the virus or touches the hand of the person with bronchitis, they too can develop the illness.
People have a higher risk for getting acute bronchitis if:
- They have had a recent illness or viral respiratory infection, which reduces the body's ability to fight off infections
- They have chronic lung problems such as asthma, cystic fibrosis or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [link lung_COPD]
- They smoke or are exposed to damaging fumes (such as those in certain kinds of factories).
What are the symptoms of acute bronchitis?
- Shortness of breath
- Wheezing when breathing
- A cough that stays steady or gets increasingly worse for 10 days to 2 weeks
- A cough that worsens at night
- A cough that starts out dry and irritating, but becomes increasing loose over time
- A cough that produces mucus
- A cough that lasts for less than 6 to 8 weeks
- Rarely, coughing up blood.
How serious is acute bronchitis?
Although there are millions of cases of acute bronchitis each year in the United States, very few people have serious complications. However, for patients with chronic lung or heart disease, acute bronchitis can be more severe and can progress to pneumonia.
How to treat Acute Bronchitis
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