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Bronchitis
The bronchitis is an inflammation of the mucosas of the bronchial tubes. Himself you are the part of the respiratory systems, which follows the trachea and about 20 times into smaller and smaller branches branches. One must imagine the bronchial system like a far branched tube system which is lined by a mucosa layer.
You distinguish at a bronchitis after the course in an inflammation of the bronchial tubes which is (proceeding slowly and "constant") which is acute (going intensely, appearing rapidly) or chronic. Furthermore you distinguish to the place of the in-fection. So the trachea and the big bronchial tubes are inflamed at a tracheobron-chitis at a bronchiolitis, the small and smallest branchings of the bronchial tubes, the bronchiolen. Bronchitis appears if this the inflamed bronchial mucosa swells up, H. mucus is increased formed and the air routes are transferred so an obstructive ("blocking", . being accompanied by restriction). Es kommt zur Atembehinderung. Nowadays the concept spastic bronchitis is often used for an obstructive bronchitis synonymously. The cause of the respiratory systems narrowing is an involuntary cramp of the bronchial musculature ("bronchospasm") here.
A. Acute bronchitis
Pathogens, to 90% viruses (Rhino, Adeno and Coxsackieviren, echo, Parainfluenza and influenza viruses), are the cause of the acute bronchitis. You are transferred by droplet infection and frequently lead to the bronchitis after five to six days. It is possi-ble well that at first there is a cold disease of the upper air routes and the viral infec-tion then spreads up to the bronchial mucosa. Bacteria (streptococci, pneumococci, haemophilus influenza) also can cause an acute bronchitis, though. They frequently appear with or after a viral infection. One talks about a so-called secondary infection. I
The illness frequently appears primarily in the fall or spring.
Cold, wet weather, cigarette smoke and air pollution promote the inflammation of the bronchial mucosas.
An acute bronchitis speaks by the following troubles:
- At first a dry appears, perhaps with a permanent irritation of the throat, "hollow cough".
- After few days it comes to cough with expectoration. The expectoration is whitish mucously, at bacterial infections frequently more yellowish green at vi-ral infections. Infants cough the mucus highly, can not, however, spit it out but swallow it. At intense coughing fits this mucus can be broken open with stom-ach content.
- Further concomitants can be fevers and tiredness.
You should certainly introduce your child to your physician if:
- the fever 38.5 º C exceeds,
- after two to three days the bronchitis doesn't fade away primarily at a puru-lent, yellowish greenish expectoration or cough,
- at a bloody expectoration,
- at respiratory troubles (immediately to the physician)!, breath narrowness and mamma pains.
Complications can appear at a bronchitis if she isn't treated at full term. She can change into a lung inflammation. An inflammation of the bronchiolitis, the smallest trachea branchings, can draw a bronchial system reacting oversensitively after itself and to asthma bronchial lead. An obstructive bronchitis can appear (see below) with dyspnea at infants.
Your attending doctor will help as follows:
- He will prescribe expectorant means (so-called mucinolytics) in the form of cough mixtures, guttas or tablets. The contents substances can vegetable nature (ivy leaves or thyme extract) or chemical insertion (ambroxol, acetylene cysteine) be.
- It will order perhaps containing codeine cough silent one at a strong stimulus cough (mainly for the night). These mustn't!be taken with Hustenlösern. The mucus then cannot be coughed sensibly.
- He will treat a bacterial bronchitis with antibiotics.
In the following way you can in addition help your child:
- Give him something to drink much, for example warm teas.
- Avoid a very cold, smoky or dry air with your child. All this leads to an addi-tional irritation of the respiratory systems. A fresh air is important now. For the air humidification in the child's room you build clothes horses with wet towels.
- Make warm mamma compresses. You promote the blood flow and this way solve the mucus.
- Irradiations seem minimum to the same species with red light from the front for 10 to 15 minutes three times. Don't leave your child alone with the red light lamp because of the burn danger!
- Head steam baths with saltwater seem, disinfecting expectorant and moisten the respiratory systems.
- If you have a micro inhaler (for example par bellboy), then you inhale with your child with a sterile saline solution up to four times minimumly for 5 to 10 min-utes.
B. obstructive (spastic) bronchitis
It is an acute bronchitis at which it comes by the increased mucus formation and swelling up of the bronchial mucosas to a respiratory systems narrow part at the ob-structive spastic bronchitis. The bronchial musculature ("bronchospasm") can ac-companyingly become cramped. Children most frequently fall ill with this form of the bronchitis between the sixth life month and the third birthday.
Typical disease features are:
- The child has cough in form of a dry stimulus cough or connected to mucus formation. The cough sounds hacking occasionally and the child can be hoarse.
- It possibly breaks meals and the mucus swallowed open since the pressure by the muscle tension of the abdominal wall on the stomach gets too big at strong cough attacks.
- The child often suffers from a considerable dyspnea.
- Perhaps a whistling or squeaking murmur can be heard at the expiration.
The medical treatment goes by the troubles. Juices or medicines are used for inhal-ing mostly:
- expectorant means,
- antiphlogistic medicines (cortisone),
- bronchial tube enlarging preparations
- at frequent vomiting electrolyte solutions.
Only at clear references to a bacterial infection you treat with antibiotics.
For common the children come through the obstructive bronchitis at an early medical treatment quite well. An asthma develops bronchial at approximately a third of the children later.
C. Bronchiolitis
The bronchiolitis is a special form of the obstructive bronchitis. The small and small-est bronchial tubes, the bronchiolitis, are acutely inflamed. With children it represents the most frequent infectious disease of the lower respiratory systems with an accu-mulation between the-6. life months in the first year of life. This illness of the Respi-ratory Syncytial virus (RSV) is triggered by the majority. However also other respira-tory viruses can cause the illness.
The symptoms of the bronchiolitis are the followings:
- at the beginning of common colds, fever, light cough,
- late serious ones life-threatening dyspnea (nasal flaring, retractions) and rapid breathing,
- Pallor or blue stain of the skin, the lips or the tongue due to the hypoxia,
- the child makes a seriously ill impression.
Drive at these symptoms to the physician or to the next pediatric clinic immediately. You calm your child as well as possible, then cry exerts and can make worse the dyspnea. Offer your child drinking as much as possible.
Your child is treated as follows in the hospital:
- It gets a wet, oxygen enriched air to breathing in.
- Fluid is supplied possibly over a drip or a probe.
- Sometimes the inhalation takes from bronchial tube enlarging medicines relief.
D. Chronic bronchitis
The bronchitis is marked as chronic if the child suffers from it longer than three month that means cough has with and without mucus vomiting incessantly. The chronic bronchitis is usually no independent illness but mostly an accompanying illness. A bronchitis often follows a harmless infection again and again.
The symptoms of the chronic bronchitis are like those of the other bronchitises (cough, expectoration, dyspnea).
The causes are usually others:
- chronically purulent paranasal sinusitis,
- Allergyen,
- infections like veins gone ahead,
- congenital malformations in the bronchial area,
- Cystic fibrosis (cystic fibrosis),
- Harmful environment stimuli, particularly tobacco smoke,
- Defense weakness.
As in the case of every bronchial illness only the treating physician can make the ex-act diagnosis. An exact anamnesis (case history) gives the first clues. The physician will bug your child to state the species of the respiratory soundses exactly. Perhaps it arranges for a blood decrease to measure the oxygen saturation in the blood. A lung function analysis shows a restricted lung function. A roentgen examination of the lung gets possible urgently. Since the attending doctor must establish the exact cause at the chronic bronchitis, it can be necessary to take a tissue specimen.
At first the cause of the chronic bronchitis must be found out. Die
Basic illness is treated. The disease treated otherwise symptomatically:
- Expectorant medicines,
- Antibiotics at bacterial infections,
- Cromoglicic acid for inhaling at allergies,
- need wise inhalation with bronchial tube enlarging medicines,
- perhaps inhalation with corticoids.
If infections of the respiratory systems are the reason for the chronic bronchitis again and again, then the physician also can prescribe an immune therapeutic. It contains freeze-dried, standardized bacterium stems which can affect the respiratory systems. Capsules or a solution must consistently be taken in certain distances over months. The immune system is strengthened by it and the number of infections reduces.
In the following way you still can help your child:
- Go at every new disease episode to your physician to avoid resultant dam-ages.
- In addition, the same tips apply to the chronic bronchitis as in the case of the acute bronchitis (avoid smoke and cold air, many drink fresh air, much, inhale inhaler etc. with micro).
- Stays at the sea or in the high mountains can lead at a chronic bronchitis at quite a long times of the recovery. Choose your vacation objectives corre-spondingly. Perhaps the health insurance takes on the costs or a cost share of a cure stay. Ask your physician for it.
Tip: A bronchitis cannot always be behind this at dyspnea or also cough. The child also can have an object into the trachea aspiriert (breathed in) (primarily nuts with children among 2 years!). It must be immediately removed.
These informations may be considered a substitute for a piece of medical advice in no case. The content of health-illness.com doesn't can and may be put into any case to make diagnoses or carry out self medical treatment independently.
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