Bronchitis is a type of disease that is characterized by damage to the respiratory tract, the formation of inflammation on the bronchial mucosa, which leads to an increase in temperature and the development of a severe cough.
The disease is diagnosed not only in adults, but also in children under one year of age - this fact worries parents. Bronchitis in infants is a complication of a cold and requires high-quality therapy.
Development mechanism
Bronchitis is an infectious disease characterized by the development of an inflammatory process in the respiratory system and an increase in the production of bronchial secretions released during coughing.
Children's doctors say that symptoms of bronchitis are observed in every fifth newborn baby: the phenomenon is due to the weakness of the immune system and the structure of the child's respiratory system.
Factors contributing to bronchial inflammation include:
- Defective structure of the bronchi: lack of lumen between them.
- The viscous consistency of bronchial secretions complicates the process of its removal during coughing and leads to the accumulation of mucus.
- Weakness of the immune system. Since the baby’s immunity is just developing, there is a high probability of inflammation of the bronchi due to infection with viral agents.
- Frequent allergic reactions. The baby's body is highly sensitive - this explains the high risk of developing allergies, in most cases food.
- Hypothermia of the child's body.
The mechanism of development of the pathology is as follows: the mucous membrane of the bronchi, being under the influence of pathogenic bacteria, becomes severely inflamed and swells. The formation of edema leads to a narrowing of the lumen between the bronchi and a deterioration in the conductivity of oxygen into the lungs. As a result, the synthesis of viscous exudate increases: in order to slow down the production of mucus, the bronchi contract, resulting in a local spasm.
The manifestation of obstructive bronchitis in infants is preceded by the development of an acute respiratory infection, which is characterized by damage to the upper respiratory system.
There are many types of pathogenic microorganisms that infect the human body - this explains the fact that the risk of infection for a baby is high.
Bronchitis in children. How dangerous is it and how to treat it?
A “barking” cough, hoarse breathing, and fever are terrible signs of bronchitis that frighten many parents. How to treat this disease, and most importantly prevent its occurrence, was told by Asya Anatolyevna Barashkova , a pediatrician.
Bronchitis is a disease of the respiratory system in which the bronchi are involved in the inflammatory process. Often it is its symptoms that force people to see a doctor. Acute bronchitis is predominantly a manifestation or complication of an acute respiratory viral or viral bacterial infection. It can also appear when the bronchial mucosa is damaged due to ARVI.
Chronic bronchitis develops as a complication of acute, or as a result of prolonged exposure to non-infectious irritating factors, such as dust. Sometimes recurrent bronchitis is isolated. This diagnosis is made if a person gets sick at least 3 times during the year.
Bronchitis in children
Acute bronchitis most often occurs in children. There are several types:
- simple, without obstruction, can occur in a child at any age;
- obstructive, with impaired bronchial obstruction. Most often diagnosed in children 2-3 years of age;
- obliterating, with damage to small bronchi, bronchioles, and alveoli, leading to obliteration of their lumen. Usually associated with adenoviruses or immune system pathology.
- bronchiolitis - narrowing of the lumen of the bronchi due to changes in the structure of the bronchial epithelium. Accompanied by breathing problems. Unlike obliterating bronchitis, the changes are reversible.
Symptoms of bronchitis often depend on the cause of its occurrence. Typically, signs of the disease appear in children after the onset of an acute respiratory viral infection of the upper respiratory tract (rhinitis, pharyngitis, etc.). The main symptoms of acute bronchitis are cough and fever. With obstructive bronchitis, signs of respiratory failure appear: shortness of breath, cyanosis (blue discoloration of the skin and mucous membranes), difficulty breathing. Shortness of breath is not typical for acute simple bronchitis. Older children may complain of a headache, a sore throat, a feeling of tightness and a burning sensation in the chest.
Diagnostics
Diagnosis of acute bronchitis is based on the child’s complaints, the results of an objective examination and additional examination methods, such as a general blood test, sputum examination, x-ray examination, spirography and others. Our Center has a full range of these services, which helps us quickly determine the diagnosis and prescribe the necessary treatment.
Treatment
Treatment is aimed at eliminating the cause of the disease, as well as relieving symptoms, mainly through inhaled medications. Antibiotics are prescribed only if necessary.
In addition to drug treatment, it is important to care for your child: let him drink more, prepare light and nutritious food, do not forget about hygiene procedures and ventilation of the premises. At later stages of the disease, physiotherapy and herbal medicine are possible.
If you have a persistent cough, you can alleviate the child’s condition with hot foot baths, alcohol compresses on the chest, etc. During the recovery period, courses of so-called bacterial lysates and multivitamins are prescribed.
Prevention
It is important to remember that the best treatment is prevention! It includes vaccination against childhood infectious diseases, against which bronchitis and influenza develop, and against pneumococcal and hemophilus influenzae infections.
We wish you and your children health in the New Year! Spend this time with your family, because the New Year holidays are the best time to relax together, gain strength and enter the next year in a good mood!
Classification
There are two forms of bronchitis - acute and chronic.
Acute bronchitis is the result of infection of the body by pathogenic microorganisms - influenza virus, adenovirus or rhinovirus.
Less commonly, acute inflammation develops when bacteriological microflora, fungus, toxins or allergens enter the respiratory tract.
Chronic bronchitis occurs with frequent recurrences of colds, regular hypothermia of the body, as well as prolonged exposure to toxic substances on the respiratory system.
Symptoms
Signs of bronchitis in infants are determined by the form of the inflammatory process. Symptoms become more pronounced if the infectious disease develops in an acute form: symptoms appear within a few hours.
Chronic inflammation of the bronchi in a baby is difficult to diagnose, which is due to the asymptomatic development of the pathology.
The main factor that provokes the appearance of symptoms of bronchitis is the lack of quality treatment for colds. Parents often interrupt drug therapy, relying on the normalization of their baby’s well-being. As a result, the airways become inflamed again, and the immune system begins to weaken even more: a relapse develops.
If bronchitis in a newborn is of an allergic nature, unpleasant symptoms appear against the background of exposure to the allergen on the child’s body. Bronchitis in infants is manifested by the following symptoms:
- hoarseness occurs as a result of accumulation of sputum in the upper respiratory tract of the newborn;
- pain and discomfort in the throat;
- separation of mucous secretions during coughing;
- difficulty breathing as a result of the development of bronchospasm.
Another symptom characteristic of bronchitis is a cough, which at an early stage of the inflammatory process is dry. As the infection develops, a mucous secretion begins to accumulate in the bronchi, which is released during the cough reflex.
If inflammation occurs against the background of bacterial damage, the sputum contains impurities of pus. In the event that bronchitis is provoked by viral agents, clear, sometimes green-tinged, bronchial mucus is released.
On average, a symptom of inflammation such as cough bothers a baby for two weeks. If the symptom persists after all other symptoms have stopped, you should contact your pediatrician.
The inflammatory process that develops in the bronchi provokes an increase in the body temperature of a small patient to 38 degrees: on average, it persists for 7 days.
If bronchitis in an infant is not accompanied by a high temperature, this indicates that a focus of inflammation in the respiratory system has formed due to exposure to an allergen.
Symptoms characteristic of bronchitis are aggravated by lethargy and tearfulness, poor appetite, and weakness of the child. During the day, the baby is constantly capricious and demands attention, and at night he often wakes up and refuses mother’s milk. The degree of manifestation of symptoms is determined by the degree of damage to the bronchial mucosa of the infant.
Signs of bronchitis
Each form of the disease has its own specific symptoms, which a pediatrician can and should deal with. The most important signs of bronchitis that will indicate you need to see a doctor are:
- Cough, usually accompanied by fever and sputum production. This distinguishes it from other diseases of the upper respiratory tract, when children also cough. If at the beginning of the disease the cough is usually dry, then later it turns into a wet one.
- The onset of the inflammatory process in the bronchial mucosa is characterized by increased secretion of sputum. The doctor can easily recognize this process by “hard” breathing. The mother can independently hear wheezing, whistling, and sometimes even gurgling in the child’s breathing, mainly when he is sleeping.
- There may be complaints of pressure and pain in the sternum or behind it.
- An increase in temperature is not always a characteristic sign. In the acute form of the disease, the temperature may remain normal. And sometimes 37-38 degrees remain for a long time. Severe forms of bronchitis occur with a high, difficult-to-control temperature.
Be especially careful!
Emergency hospitalization is required:
- with obstruction in a baby under one year of age;
- if the symptoms of intoxication are pronounced: high fever, dehydration, vomiting and nausea, general weakness, lack of appetite, accompanied by obstruction;
- signs of respiratory failure: shortness of breath, acrocyanosis (bluish discoloration of the skin of the nasolabial triangle associated with insufficient blood supply to small capillaries).
Diagnostics
Examination of a newborn with suspected bronchial inflammation begins with an examination by a pediatrician. The pediatrician uses a stethoscope to listen to the baby's chest to detect wheezing and whistling sounds, as well as to evaluate respiratory function.
Afterwards, the doctor sends the little patient for a blood test, which will determine the content of leukocytes: a large number of them indicates the presence of a source of inflammation in the body.
A blood test allows you to assess the condition of eosinophils: their excess is a symptom of the development of an allergic reaction.
An informative method for diagnosing a respiratory disease is sputum analysis, with the help of which a laboratory technician determines the type of bacterial pathogen. If the baby has difficulty breathing, it is also necessary to take a blood test to evaluate its composition of gases.
To exclude the possibility of inflammation of the lungs, the doctor sends the baby for an X-ray examination of the sternum.
Principles of treatment
Treatment of bronchitis in infants is aimed at relieving the negative impact of the factor that provoked the formation of a focus of inflammation.
If the pathology has a viral etiology, drug therapy is based on taking antiviral drugs - Arbidol or Tamiflu. Damage to the bronchial mucosa by bacterial microflora is an indication for antibacterial therapy.
To normalize body temperature, it is recommended to give the baby the antipyretic drug Paracetamol. To facilitate the process of sputum separation, the child is recommended to take expectorants - Lazolvan and ACC.
If necessary, the pediatrician can also prescribe mucolytic drugs: they must be taken with extreme caution, as they increase the synthesis of sputum.
A lingering dry cough is an indication for taking antitussives that contain codeine. If your baby is bothered by a cough with copious amounts of sputum, it is not recommended to take antitussive medications. To relieve bronchial spasms, the bronchodilator "Atrovent" is used.
Drinking plenty of fluids will help speed up the body's recovery process. To improve the baby’s well-being, physiotherapeutic procedures such as electrophoresis and therapeutic exercises can be used.
Treatment of bronchitis
Treatment of bronchitis in children is carried out on the basis of clinical recommendations and standards. They summarize the experience of treating children and adolescents, taking into account data accumulated by foreign and Russian specialists.
In case of acute bronchitis, it is better to provide the child with semi-bed rest until the body temperature decreases. In this situation, the baby needs to be given more to drink during the day. If your child wakes up at night, it is better to offer him something to drink at night. It is important to ensure that the sick person has improved sputum discharge and to help the child cough up - this is a light vibration massage (tapping on the chest and breathing exercises, which are carried out in the morning, afternoon and evening. It is better to carry out these procedures on an empty stomach and in a playful way in order to set the sick child up for positivity and recovery .
The room where the sick child is located must have fresh, humidified air. Dry air will cause mucus to dry out, meaning the child will not be able to cough up effectively and efficiently and remove mucus from the bronchi. In this situation, it is necessary to regularly ventilate the room. Use a humidifier, which can sometimes work around the clock during illness. In winter, try to reduce the operation of radiators heating the room, as they make the air dry. If this is not possible, then cover the radiators with a damp cloth. We must try not to make the room hot. The best temperature is 22 degrees. For a child with bronchitis, in the absence of elevated body temperature and intoxication, walks in the fresh air with low physical activity are very useful.
If a child has a dry cough, then centrally acting cough medications can help him, but they are not used for long - 2-3 days.
Sometimes antiviral drugs can help a baby with bronchitis. They are prescribed if there was a viral infection (ARVI) at the onset of the disease.
For mucus that is difficult to clear, mucolytic drugs are prescribed - these are drugs that thin the sputum. Medicines are also prescribed to help move sputum from the lower sections of the bronchi to the upper ones - they enhance the movements of the cilia located in the bronchi. Therefore, sputum moves faster from the lower to the upper sections.
Possible complications
Advanced bronchitis provokes the development of complications:
- Airway obstruction.
- Heart failure.
- Respiratory failure.
- Pneumonia in chronic form.
- Asthma of bronchial type.
- Inflammation of the lung tissue.
The manifestation of inflammation symptoms in a baby is an indication for an emergency visit to the pediatrician. If the baby’s parents ignore the signs of bronchitis or self-medicate, the inflammatory process worsens, causing dangerous complications to develop.
