Bronchitis : Forms and Types
Bronchitis creates inflammation in the respiratory system and bronchial mucosal membranes. Different types of bronchitis have different symptoms as per the causes and the severity of the disease. Bronchitis disease can be divided into different types and categories from the symptoms and the duration of the disease. Bronchitis can be classified as the non-infectious and infectious, but acute and chronic bronchitis are the major two types that are diagnosed in most of the patients.
This type of bronchitis has severe symptoms that contribute in spreading the disease within short time. Some researches have showed that acute bronchitis affected patients are recover effectively by common treatments and never get this disease in their life. Acute bronchitis is often diagnosed in children, so it is also known as the Childhood Bronchitis.
Generally, acute bronchitis lasts maximum for three weeks. Most of the cases of acute bronchitis are successfully treated, and they don't cause any serious damages to the patient. However, when this disease is not given proper medical treatment at the right time, it may convert into the chronic bronchitis or sometimes it can cause pulmonary diseases.
Acute bronchitis is often related with viral and bacterial infections, as it is mostly found in the patients of flu. They show the symptoms like moderate fever, chest pains, sore throat, chills, breathing problems and dry cough.
Chronic bronchitis causes recurrent symptoms when compared to the acute bronchitis, so these symptoms are difficult to diagnose and provide effective treatment. However, patients with chronic bronchitis respond well to the medical treatments, but symptoms of chronic bronchitis can be experienced after some days. Chronic bronchitis can remain for at least three months in most of the cases, but sometimes the symptoms can recur for around two years.
Generally, this type of disease affects the lungs and that causes pulmonary diseases. One of the most common diseases diagnosed in these cases is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Infectious and non-infectious factors are mostly cause the chronic bronchitis.
Apart from the acute and chronic type of bronchitis, it is also categorized as infectious and non-infectious bronchitis. These categories are based on the triggers of the disease.
Non-infectious Bronchitis: Allergens like pollutants, dust, particles and pollens cause the non-infectious bronchitis. In most of the cases, frequent exposure to cigarette smoke, pollutants and chemicals can also result the non-infectious bronchitis.
Infectious Bronchitis: Infectious bronchitis is caused because of the microorganisms that also cause severe symptoms of bronchitis. Fungal organisms, bacteria, microplasmas and viruses are responsible factors for the infectious bronchitis.
Virus infection is the most dangerous cause of the bronchitis, as viruses directly affect the bronchi and the lungs. Because of the virus attack, the body starts to fight against it by producing larger amount of swelling. The viruses that generally cause cold can also be responsible for the bronchitis.
