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/ Bronchitis
 Description of disease:
 Bronchitis is an inflammation of the air passage, namely bronchi in the lungs. There are two types of bronchitis:
- acute bronchitis - caused by the infection of the bronchial tubes, it lasts shortly - no more than several weeks, the passageways in the lungs produce mucus which cause problems while breathing.
- chronic bronchitis - it is a long lasting inflammation of respiratory tract, all the symptoms of inflammation such as difficulty breathing, shortness of breath recur and rarely go away completely.
Bronchitis is usually caused by flu or cold and occurs more often during winter months. Smoking or breathing with fumes and dust are other common causes of the bronchitis. Suppressing cough that brings mucus is not advisable as it helps cleaning the airways. Patients take antibiotics, should drink plenty of liquids, inhale hot water and above all, stay at home
Symptoms:
anaemia (red blood cell count low)
catarrh
chest tightness
cough
dyspnea, breathlessness
expectoration of purulent secretion
fever
pain in joints
sore throat
wheeze breathing
Research:
Inoculation of bacteria into a medium
Laboratory testing (testosterone, sugar, cholesterol, prolactin levels)
X-ray examination of the chest
Doctors :
Family physician, practitioner
Internist or Doctor of internal medicine
Added by:
Added on:
0000-00-00 00:00:00 ,
Updated:
2008-04-08 13:12:09
Bibliography:
Visalli, G. Guide to Medical Cures and Treatments, 1996
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2008-06-16 09:56:33
