Bronchitis is an inflammation of the bronchi (medium-size airways) in the lungs. Acute bronchitis is usually caused by viruses or bacteria and may last several days or weeks. Chronic bronchitis is not necessarily caused by infection and is generally part of a syndrome called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); it is defined clinically as a persistent cough that produces sputum (phlegm)and mucus, for at least three months in two consecutive years. The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (most commonly known by the abbreviation ICD) provides codes to classify diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or disease. ... The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10) is a coding of diseases and signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or diseases, as classified by the World Health Organization (WHO). ... // J00-J99 - Diseases of the respiratory system (J00-J06) Acute upper respiratory infections (J00) Acute nasopharyngitis (common cold) (J01) Acute sinusitis (J02) Acute pharyngitis (J03) Acute tonsillitis (J04) Acute laryngitis and tracheitis (J05) Acute obstructive laryngitis (croup) and epiglottitis (J050) Acute obstructive laryngitis (croup) (J051) Acute epiglottitis (J06) Acute upper... The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (most commonly known by the abbreviation ICD) provides codes to classify diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or disease. ... The following is a list of codes for International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. ... Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a huge controlled vocabulary (or metadata system) for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences. ... An abscess on the skin, showing the redness and swelling characteristic of inflammation. ... A bronchus (plural bronchi, adjective bronchial) is a caliber of airway in the respiratory tract that conducts air into the lungs. ... Human respiratory system The lungs flank the heart and great vessels in the chest cavity. ... This article is about biological infectious particles. ... Phyla Actinobacteria Aquificae Chlamydiae Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi Chloroflexi Chrysiogenetes Cyanobacteria Deferribacteres Deinococcus-Thermus Dictyoglomi Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria Firmicutes Fusobacteria Gemmatimonadetes Lentisphaerae Nitrospirae Planctomycetes Proteobacteria Spirochaetes Thermodesulfobacteria Thermomicrobia Thermotogae Verrucomicrobia Bacteria (singular: bacterium) are unicellular microorganisms. ... For COPD occuring in horses, see recurrent airway obstruction. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Signs and symptoms

Bronchitis may be indicated by an expectorating cough, shortness of breath (dyspnea) and wheezing. Occasionally chest pains, fever, and fatigue or malaise may also occur. Mucus is normally green or yellowish green. Spitting is the act of forcibly ejecting saliva or other substances from the mouth. ... Dyspnea (R06. ... In medicine, chest pain is a symptom of a number of conditions and is generally considered a medical emergency, unless the patient is a known angina pectoris sufferer and the symptoms are familiar (appearing at exertion and resolving at rest, known as stable angina). When the chest pain is not... An analogue medical thermometer showing the temperature of 38. ... The word fatigue is used in everyday living to describe a range of afflictions, varying from a general state of lethargy to a specific work induced burning sensation within muscle. ... Malaise is a feeling of general discomfort or uneasiness, an out of sorts feeling, often the first indication of an infection or other disease. ...

Diagnosis

A physical examination will often reveal decreased intensity of breath sounds, wheeze (rhonchi) and prolonged expiration. Most doctors rely on the presence of a persistent dry or wet cough as evidence of bronchitis. In medicine, the physical examination or clinical examination is the process by which the physician investigates the body of a patient for signs of disease. ... Rhonchi is the coarse rattling sound somewhat like snoring, usually caused by secretion in a bronchial airways. Category: ... Exhalation (or expiration) is the movement of air out of the bronchial tubes, through the airways, to the external environment during breathing. ...

A variety of tests may be performed in patients presenting with cough and shortness of breath:

• Pulmonary Function Tests (PFT) (or spirometry) must be performed in all patients presenting with chronic cough. An FEV1/FVC ratio below 0.7 that is not fully reversible after bronchodilator therapy indicates the presence of COPD, that requires more aggressive therapy and carries a more severe prognosis than simple chronic bronchitis.
• A chest X-ray that reveals hyperinflation; collapse and consolidation of lung areas would support a diagnosis of pneumonia. Some conditions that predispose to bronchitis may be indicated by chest radiography.
• A sputum sample showing neutrophil granulocytes (inflammatory white blood cells) and culture showing that has pathogenic microorganisms such as Streptococcus spp.
• A blood test would indicate inflammation (as indicated by a raised white blood cell count and elevated C-reactive protein).
• Neutrophils infiltrate the lung tissue, aided by damage to the airways caused by irritation.
• Damage caused by irritation of the airways leads to inflammation and leads to neutrophils being present
• Mucosal hypersecretion is promoted by a substance released by neutrophils
• Further obstruction to the airways is caused by more goblet cells in the small airways. This is typical of chronic bronchitis
• Although infection is not the reason or cause of chronic bronchitis it is seen to aid in sustaining the bronchitis.

Flow-Volume loop showing successful FVC maneuver. ... Flow-Volume loop showing successful FVC maneuver. ... FVC may stand for: FIRST Vex Challenge, a mid-level robotics competition targeted toward high-school aged students. ... Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), also known as chronic obstructive airway disease (COAD), is a group of diseases characterized by limitation of airflow in the airway that is not fully reversible. ... Frontal chest X-ray. ... This article is about human pneumonia. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A microbiological culture is a way to determine the cause of infectious disease by letting the agent multiply (reproduce) in predetermined media. ... Streptococcus is a genus of spherical shaped Gram-positive bacteria, belonging to the phylum Firmicutes[1] and the lactic acid bacteria group. ... Blood tests are laboratory tests done on blood to gain an appreciation of disease states and the function of organs. ... White Blood Cells redirects here. ... C-reactive protein (CRP) is a plasma protein, an acute phase protein produced by the liver. ...

Treatment

Antibiotics

For acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis, if antibiotics are used a meta-analysis found that "amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, macrolides, second-generation or third-generation cephalosporins, and quinolones" may be more effective.^[1] A meta-analysis is a statistical practice of combining the results of a number of studies. ...

Bronchodilators

For acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis, a clinical practice guideline by the American College of Physicians found that bronchodilators may help.^[2] Clinical practice guidelines are collections of practical information for use by doctors and other medical professionals. ... The American College of Physicians (ACP) is a national organization of doctors of internal medicine (internists), physicians who specialize in the prevention, detection and treatment of illnesses in adults. ... A bronchodilator is a medication intended to improve bronchial airflow. ...

Corticosteroids

For acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis, a clinical practice guideline by the American College of Physicians found that corticosteroids may help.^[2] Clinical practice guidelines are collections of practical information for use by doctors and other medical professionals. ... The American College of Physicians (ACP) is a national organization of doctors of internal medicine (internists), physicians who specialize in the prevention, detection and treatment of illnesses in adults. ... In physiology, corticosteroids are a class of steroid hormones that are produced in the adrenal cortex. ...

Smoking cessation

Main article: smoking cessation

A No Smoking sign Smoking cessation (commonly known as quitting, or kicking the habit) is the effort to stop smoking tobacco products. ...

References

1. ^ Dimopoulos G, Siempos II, Korbila IP, Manta KG, Falagas ME (2007). "Comparison of first-line with second-line antibiotics for acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis: a metaanalysis of randomized controlled trials to Joe Fo Sho". Chest 132 (2): 447-55. doi:10.1378/chest.07-0149. PMID 17573508. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Bach PB, Brown C, Gelfand SE, McCrory DC (2001). "Management of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a summary and appraisal of published evidence". Ann. Intern. Med. 134 (7): 600–20. PMID 11281745. 

A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ...

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Bronchitis.