Bronchitis

Bronchitis refers to chronic non-specific inflammation of the trachea, bronchial mucosa, and surrounding tissues. The main cause of bronchitis is chronic non-specific inflammation of the bronchus caused by repeated infections of viruses and bacteria.

1. Acute bronchitis

In the early stage of acute bronchitis, symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection are often manifested. Patients usually have clinical manifestations such as nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat, and hoarseness. The systemic symptoms are mild, but low-grade fever, chills, general fatigue, conscious throat itching, irritating cough, and pain behind the breastbone may occur. There is not much sputum in the early stage, but the sputum is not easy to be coughed up. After 2 to 3 days, the sputum may turn from mucous to mucopurulent. The patient's exposure to cold, inhalation of cold air, or irritating gas can aggravate or induce coughing. Patients often cough more prominently when they wake up in the morning or at night. Cough can also be paroxysmal and sometimes persistent. Severe coughing is often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and chest and abdominal muscle pain. If accompanied by bronchospasm, there may be wheezing and shortness of breath. Generally speaking, the course of acute bronchitis has a certain degree of self-limitation, and the systemic symptoms can subside within 4 to 5 days, but the cough can sometimes be prolonged for several weeks.

Physical examination sometimes reveals dry rales, which disappear after coughing; occasionally, wet rales can be heard at the bottom of the lungs, and wheeze can be heard when accompanied by bronchospasm. Usually, the white blood cell count is normal, and there are no abnormal findings on chest X-rays.

2. Chronic bronchitis

Chronic bronchitis refers to patients who have chronic cough and sputum for more than three months each year after excluding various other causes of chronic cough and continues for two years. It is not necessarily accompanied by persistent airflow restriction.

Reference:

Zhang Zhengxia, Luo Yunchun, Cai Xiaohong. Study on the correlation between bronchiolitis and bronchial asthma in children. "CNKI", 1999

Bai Junn, Xu Peiru. Progress in the diagnosis and treatment of bronchiolitis. "CNKI", 2009 

Liu Siguo, Kang Lijuan, Jiang Guotuo, etc. Construction of a recombinant eukaryotic expression vector for the nucleoprotein gene of avian infectious bronchitis virus. "CNKI", 2001

Wang Yating. Diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of bronchiolitis. "CNKI; WanFang", 2008

Li Changchong, Su Miaoshang. The relationship between respiratory syncytial virus-induced bronchiolitis and bronchial asthma and its diagnosis and treatment strategies. "Chinese Journal of Practical Pediatrics", 2006

支气管炎 支氣管炎

支气管炎是指气管、支气管黏膜及其周围组织的慢性非特异性炎症。