Complications of acute bronchitis

This is an automatically translated article.

The article is professionally consulted by Master, Doctor Nguyen Huy Nhat - Department of Medical Examination & Internal Medicine - Vinmec Danang International General Hospital.
The changing seasons make us more susceptible to respiratory diseases, including acute bronchitis. Complications of the disease can cause acute respiratory failure, long-term disease can progress to chronic, with acute exacerbations affecting health.

1. What is acute bronchitis, is it dangerous?

The bronchial mucosa is the part that takes on the role of retaining dust particles and toxic substances and transporting them out, keeping the airways clean. Acute bronchitis occurs when the lining of the bronchi from the larynx to the lung parenchyma is infected, leading to problems with inflammation of the nose, throat, larynx,...
Acute bronchitis often occurs in the cold season, caused by viruses and bacteria. The disease can be serious for the elderly, people with weak organs, weakened immune systems, chronic diseases such as asthma, bronchiectasis, chronic bronchitis, for young children or infants.
For some people with acute bronchitis, they are susceptible to superinfection, which can prolong the disease, which can lead to chronic bronchitis, and chronic bronchitis can lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
>>> Is a persistent cough a chronic bronchitis disease?

2. Symptoms of acute bronchitis

Acute bronchitis often appears at the same time or immediately after an upper respiratory infection with symptoms such as sneezing, runny nose, dry cough, burning throat. The progression of acute bronchitis usually goes through two stages:
The first stage: Lasts 3-4 days (also known as the dry inflammatory phase), the patient has symptoms such as: fever 38 - 39 degrees Celsius, 40 C degrees, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, can see a burning sensation behind the sternum. Mild dyspnea, may have a hissing sound, dry cough, and coughing at night. Auscultation of the lungs has crackles, rales. Stage 2: Duration from 6 to 8 days, also known as the exudative phase, the symptoms in the first stage decrease, the patient coughs up mucus or purulent sputum. Auscultation of the lungs has moist rales. The disease can manifest in the following forms: hemorrhagic bronchitis often coughs up blood with a small amount of sputum. At that time, it is necessary to make a differential diagnosis with lung cancer in people over 40 years old and a smoker. Recurrent acute bronchitis is often accompanied by favorable factors such as smoking, inhalation of toxic gases. Patients with bronchial obstruction such as foreign bodies in the airways in children, bronchial cancer in adults, foci of infection in the mouth, nose and throat, left heart failure, gastroesophageal reflux disease, asthma bronchial fibrosis, cystic fibrosis, immunosuppression. Bronchospasm is common in children and young people. Pseudomembranous bronchopneumonia is seen in diphtheria.

3. Dangerous complications

If acute bronchitis is not treated early and definitively, it will cause many dangerous complications. In some cases where the disease recurs many times, the foci of inflammation in the bronchi are not fully treated, creating favorable conditions for pneumonia, bronchiectasis, chronic bronchitis, and acute respiratory failure.
In children, there may be complications of obstructive bronchitis. And sometimes acute bronchitis is the beginning of a bronchial asthma. If a sick person with the flu has a superinfection of bronchitis, the disease becomes severe, then the treatment will be much more difficult.
People who show symptoms of cough and difficulty breathing, especially in severe cases, need to go to a medical facility or hospital for medical examination, blood test, chest X-ray, sputum culture to rule out a few diseases. such as tuberculosis , lung cancer , bronchiectasis , bronchial asthma , foreign bodies in the airways or stagnant lungs in cases of heart failure .
To avoid complications of acute bronchitis that adversely affect health, patients need to go to the doctor and get treatment as soon as they have symptoms. Depending on the severity and specific condition of the disease, the doctor will recommend an appropriate treatment regimen to prevent the disease from progressing and causing complications.

4. Negative development of acute bronchitis

Acute bronchitis is caused by a multitude of different causes, but if not treated immediately, definitively, the risk of the disease progressing into extremely dangerous complications. To know whether acute bronchitis is dangerous or not, the patient must know the complications caused by the disease.
4.1.Progress to Chronic Bronchitis The disease can easily progress to chronic bronchitis if treatment is neglected. This is the most common complication of acute bronchitis, especially in young children and the elderly. These are two subjects whose resistance is weak, or has been reduced, if acute bronchitis is not treated actively, the disease will quickly turn into a chronic condition that is difficult to treat. Especially for young children, chronic bronchitis will greatly affect the child's development.

4.2.Progressing into pneumonia This is one of the most relevant answers to the question: Is acute bronchitis dangerous or not? If you don't try and actively treat it, no disease will go away on its own, it will only get worse. The treatment is quite simple, the possibility of complete recovery is very high, only in a short time if the patient pays attention and receives active treatment. But if you are negligent and subjective, you will inevitably encounter complications, one of which is pneumonia.
4.3.Progress into lung abscess Lung abscess can simply be understood as a lung infection, a condition in which the tissues around the lungs become swollen and may contain pus. Surely the patient will be very worried when finding the answer to the question of whether acute bronchitis is dangerous after learning about this complication. Because lung abscess can be fatal due to the possibility of death leading to infection in the lungs. Patients should see a doctor for a suitable treatment plan.
Bronchitis as well as respiratory diseases are examined and treated by a team of highly qualified and experienced doctors at Vinmec hospital. Including Master, Doctor Nguyen Huy Nhat with many years of experience in the field of respiratory disease treatment at Hue Central Hospital, Hoan My General Hospital, .... before being a Doctor of Internal Medicine. General Hospital Vinmec Da Nang International.

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