Bronchitis in children: causes, symptoms and treatment
What is bronchitis?
Literally translated, it means inflammation of the bronchi, the lower airways that branch off from the trachea (trachea), which consequently become narrowed due to various causes with increased secretion of bronchial secretions.
What causes bronchitis in children?
In children, it is most often the result of infection with various viruses that also cause inflammation of the upper respiratory system, less often it is bacterial, and it can also be triggered by other influences such as cigarette smoke or environmental allergens.
What are the symptoms and signs of bronchitis?
Along with common cold symptoms such as sniffles, sneezing and sore throat, cough is the most pronounced symptom, and it can be dry or productive with expectoration, sometimes accompanied by audible “whistling” and “scraping” in the chest. It is extremely important to spot the symptoms and signs of a compromised respiratory system in time, such as rapid breathing, use of auxiliary respiratory musculature (seen as pulling in the intercostal muscles or jugulum – the area above the sternum), blue coloration of the mucous membrane of the tongue and lips, and in infants, moaning and nodding their head when breathing – then you need to see a doctor immediately.
How is bronchitis treated in children?
Parents can independently start to carry out symptomatic therapy – nasal lavage with physiological saline solution or commercially available preparations of hypertonic seawater solution, inhalation with physiological saline solution, maintenance of good hydration of the child. In the event that the above measures do not help or signs of a respiratory system threat appear, further assessment of the condition and therapy should be left to the pediatrician. Given that bronchitis is most often caused by viruses, antibiotics have no effect in this case.
What if bronchitis recurs?
In the case of repeated “attacks” of bronchitis, the doctor will consider the need for further treatment in accordance with the medical history of the child and his family and the clinical picture, given that various other chronic diseases of the respiratory and other systems can manifest themselves with the above symptoms.
