Bronchitis is better understood if one knows what is the anatomy of the respiratory system, especially the airways. These are air passages. The throat and the mouth are the beginning of the airway system, then come the bronchi, bronchioles and last the alveoli, which healp the oxygen get into your bloodstream.



Children are more affected by infections of those parts, including bronchitis. In the majority of children, bronchitis is the cause of a viral infection. The treatment in such cases of bronchitis should only be rest, plenty of fluid and a lot of love. The reason why many doctors prescribe antibiotics in cases of bronchitis in children is not already known. Antibiotics are known for treating a bacteria, but in almost ninety of the bronchitis cases this is not the case. A viral infection is the cause of bronchitis, not a bacteria. In adults, especially the one that smoke, things are a little different. Because of the smoke, their bronchi are already damaged and a bronchitis due to a bacteria infection is more probable. Even in these cases, bronchitis will not be treated with antibiotics until you have coughed for at least one to two weeks. So in children, antibiotics should not be a treatment for bronchitis.

There is not very much material on cases of bronchitis in children, because of the fact that there are not many things to say. The cause of the bronchitis is almost always a virus and there are no bronchitis complications when children are involved. They will experience a lot of coughing when suffering from bronchitis, but children recover on their own from bronchitis. The same viruses that give a child a runny nose are also responsible for bronchitis. So in cases of bronchitis in children there is not much to do to prevent it. What is done to prevent a cold, a flu can also be done in cases of bronchitis.

When you get bronchitis, the bronchi are infected by a virus. This ifection causes swelling and the production of much mucus than in normal cases. The main bronchitis symptom is cough. You can also feel some pain when coughing if you have bronchitis. If children are exposed to smoke from tobacco, they are more at risk of developing bronchitis. Because this smoke irritates the airways, they are more sensitive and thus bronchitis is more at home.