B5

ACUTE BRONCHITIS
By: Anna Nguyen

What is bronchitis?
Bronchitis is when tubes that carry air to lungs
(bronchial tubes) are inflamed and irritated. It
produces mucus.

What is ACUTE bronchitis?

There are 2 types of bronchitis:acute and
chronic. Acute bronchitis is inflammation of
the bronchial tubes and when they are
inflamed, they produce mucus. The difference
between chronic and acute is chronic lasts
longer.

Acute
Bronchitis

bronchial tubes are

inflamed

mucus production
increases

Main information

AFTER

&
Both children and adults can get this. Whether youre a child or
adult, it lasts about 2-4 weeks and comes quickly. If youre
healthy, it gets better fast with no problems. This is usually
caused by a virus or after having the flu. It could also, but
rarely, come from bacteria. Afterwards, you would have a dry
cough that would last several more weeks.

What are the symptoms?

chest discomfort
cough that produces mucus(clear or yellowgreen)
fever (but now shown present)
shortness of breath (cough gets worse with
activity)
if you have asthma, theres also wheezing

How can you make sure whether you

have it or not?
There are 2 tests you can take:
1. chest x-ray (if your healthcare provider suspects that
you might also have pneumonia)
2. pulse oximetry: a machine that indicates your pulse
and oxygen and seeing if its abnormal. This goes at the
end of your finger.

Treatment

drink lots of fluids

rest
use a humidifier or some way to get steam
DONT smoke
avoid secondhand smoke or any pollution
wash your hands often to avoid viruses and
infections

More treatment
These are 3 treatments that you can have if
your bronchitis gets worse:
cough medicine
take Aspirin or Tylenol if the fever gets bad
an inhaler to breathe easier and cough less
steroids to help open the air passages to
open (to breathe easier)

What is this similar to and why?

Acute bronchitis is similar to pneumonia because they have
most of the same symptoms, but the ones that are different
arent that noticeable.

Difference between acute bronchitis

and pneumonia
ACUTE BRONCHITIS

coughs are dry at first

after a few days, mucus from
the lungs come out(can be
clear, yellow, green, and might
have a little blood)
fever is present
goes away in 2-3 weeks

PNEUMONIA

coughs bring mucus from the lungs

right away (may be rusty or green
and might have a little blood)
fever is shown and will be nearly
101 degrees fahrenheit
heart rate is faster than 100 beats
per minute (bpm)
breathing is faster than 24 breaths
p/m
lasts longer than 2-3 weeks

Sources
"Acute Bronchitis Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments." WebMD.
WebMD, n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.
Board, A.D.A.M. Editorial. Bronchitis - Acute. U.S. National
Library of Medicine, 15 July 2012. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.
"Acute Bronchitis." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.
"Acute Bronchitis: MedlinePlus." U.S National Library of
Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 29 Jan.
2014.
"Differences between Acute Bronchitis and Pneumonia."
WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.