Bronchitis and its Types

Bronchitis is one of the commonly occurring respiratory diseases, which involve inflammation in addition to infection of the bronchial mucosal membranes. Its symptoms vary based on the cause and seriousness. If the disease is judged by its duration and intensity, it can be easily identified to be acute or chronic.

Acute and Chronic Bronchitis

Acute bronchitis has the following characteristics.

· Rapid onset
· Generates intense symptoms
· Easy treatment and recovery, i.e. the patients affected with acute bronchitis respond to specific treatments well and in addition, recovers quickly and permanently with minimal damage to the body.
· Common among children, hence popularly known as childhood bronchitis
· Last from a few days to two or three weeks
· Serious complications can occur only rarely and almost out of the box
· It is highly treatable
· In the absence of treatment or if left untreated, acute bronchitis can develop into chronic one or even lead further more to pulmonary diseases like emphysema, pneumonia and acute respiratory failure.
· Symptoms include sore throat, chest pain or discomfort, low cough, mild fever, difficulty in breathing and wheezing.


Chronic bronchitis is very unlike acute bronchitis. It has the following characteristics.

· Generates recurrent and persistent symptoms
· Clinical manifestations are less intense
· Very difficult in treatment and recovery
· Patients affected with chronic bronchitis sometimes respond well to many specific treatments but they experience relapse soon after the medication course is completed.
· Lasts for nearly three months
· The disease can recur frequently with gaps in two years or a little more
· This often affects the lungs, hence can easily cause serious pulmonary diseases
· This is in fact one of the commonly diagnosed forms of COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).
· This has a high prevalence in smokers. In fact, it is referred to as the smoker’s disease.
· Symptoms include highly productive cough, shallow breathing, pronounced difficulty in breathing, chest pain or discomfort and wheezing.

Infectious or Non-infectious Bronchitis
Bronchitis can also be classified as infectious or non-infectious based on the triggers or causes of the disease. Non-infectious bronchitis is the result of extended or long exposures to chemicals, pollutants and cigarette smoke. Allergens like pollen and dust particles may sometimes cause non-infectious