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Saturday, August 6, 2011

Bronchitis-Complication, Treatment And Recovery

Complication

Apart from bronchitis, neither acute nor wheezy bronchitis is usually dangerous. Acute bronchitis may, however, be parents at the same time as acute larun-gotracheitis (inflammation of the voice box and windpipe) or may progress and develop into pneumonia.

Treatment

Sometimes an antihistamine or mild sedative is prescribed to be used particularly at night. Antibiotics are widely used, but often ineffective as acute bronchitis is often a viral infection or allergy. If wheezy is the main symptoms then the doctor may suspect that asthma is playing a part in the illness. If so, he may prescribe one of the many extremely effective drugs used to relax the muscles surrounding the bronchi and bronchi-oles, thus widening them and making breathing easier. The bronchi most widely used of these drugs are salbutamol and theophylline, given in the from of tablets, capsules or medicine. In other children, drug such as salbutamol are frequently given via a pocket aerosol spray. Children under the age of four find these sprays difficult to manage, so some family doctors and most hospitals use electrically driven nebulizers. In severe cases of wheezy bronchitis, steroid hormones may be usually prescribed in tabled from, but if the child is in hospital the first 48 hours of treatment, may be given intravenously. If there is evidence of a collapsed area of lungs, or of pneumonia, physiotherapy may be advised. This involves positioning the child so that main air tube from each area of lungs slopes downwards in turn. The chest is then vibrate and tapped to loosen phlegm and held clear it from the lungs.

Recovery

Acute bronchitis is not likely to be a repeated problem unless parents smoke a good deal in the house. Wheezy bronchitis may well be recurrent, and many of these children will eventually turn out to have asthma. Making the correct diagnosis is very important as in this condition anti-asthmatic drugs are extremely effective, whereas antibiotics and cough medicines are not. Asthma should be considered especially if either parent, grandparents, brothers or sisters have asthma, eczema or hay fever. Some doctors prefer not to use the world asthma: they fear it will distress parents because it implies a long-term problem. In fact, parents should not dread this diagnosis as the method of treatment currently available are remarkably effective.