How to distinguish bronchitis from pneumonia in the home?

With the onset of cold weather, people face colds. It often happens that a sick person for various reasons does not want to visit a doctor and is engaged in self-medication. Every day the process is aggravated, and, instead of curing cold at an early stage, eventually it is necessary to fight pneumonia. . In order not to expose yourself to this danger, everyone should know how to distinguish bronchitis from pneumonia in an adult and a child . This will be discussed in the article.

What is bronchitis?

Bronchi is an integral part of the respiratory system. They look like tubules that connect the trachea to the tissue of the lungs. The trachea is connected to the two main bronchi, which have many branches, and form a whole network of different tubules, through which air is transported to the lungs.

At the edge of this tube is placed a tiny "pouch" - the alveolus. With this element, oxygen from the air is in the blood. When a person becomes ill with bronchitis, the inflammatory process develops in the bronchi, a lot of mucus is released into the bronchus lumen.

Bronchitis progresses very rapidly, if the mucous membranes are permanently damaged by various elements that are in the air.

What can be caused by bronchitis

Inflammation in the bronchi is mainly provoked by various viruses (the same because of which there is an acute respiratory illness and the flu) or a repeated bacterial infection. Also, this disease can affect a person who inhales substances that cause irritation of the lungs. Such pathogens include various toxic chemicals, dust, ammonia and smoke.

Manifestations of bronchitis are very often observed in young children. They are much more prone to respiratory illnesses than adults, since the pathways of the respiratory system are narrower. Immunity is not yet fully ripe and formed, so it is not able to protect the body from various infections.

Manifestations of bronchitis

How to distinguish bronchitis from pneumonia? Acute bronchitis is accompanied by the following symptoms:

• Cough that does not stop for a long period of time. Initially, it is dry and causes pain in the chest, then grows into wet with the mucus.
• Pain in the chest.
• Chills, accompanied by a slight increase in temperature.
• Chrypses with breathing.
• Dyspnea.
• Weakness and aches all over the body.

What is pneumonia?

Despite the achievements of modern medicine, pneumonia today is a very common disease that often ends in a fatal outcome. Lung inflammation takes the first place in terms of the death rate among all diseases caused by infections. Experts can not reduce the number of cases for many years.

Pneumonia is characterized by an infectious inflammatory process in the tissues of the lungs. Infectious agents penetrate them through the respiratory tract or through the bloodstream, if there is another infectious disease. Due to the fact that the alveolus is inflamed and swollen, there is a difficulty in gas exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. The affected organ loses the ability to saturate the blood with oxygen. This leads to the fact that the body begins to feel oxygen starvation, which is accompanied by a very serious condition of the patient.

Manifestations of pneumonia

Symptoms of pneumonia and acute bronchitis are very similar. The disease begins with a dry cough, which gradually grows into a wet cough, rales are observed, and the body temperature rises.

How to distinguish bronchitis from pneumonia? The main symptoms of pneumonia are:

• Prolonged cough.
• Painful sensations when coughing and deep breaths.
• Frequent intermittent breathing.
• Runny nose, nasal congestion.
• Dyspnea.
• Chills, accompanied by body temperature up to 40 ° C.
• Lethargy.
• Trembling of the voice.
• Sleep disturbance.
• Loss of appetite.

Bronchitis and pneumonia: differences

The symptomatology of these two insidious diseases, as already mentioned, is very similar. But the nature and severity of the symptoms makes it possible to determine what exactly a person is sick - bronchitis or pneumonia.

How else can one distinguish between diseases

What is the difference between bronchitis and pneumonia? Basically, bronchitis is characterized by wheezing, while pneumonia is dry or wet. Also, pneumonia is different in that when a patient complains of lack of appetite, insomnia and general intoxication of the body. An important point is that inflammation of the lungs progresses against the background of ARVI. The temperature can rise to 40 ° C.

If you listen to the chest with a special instrument (phonendoscope), the bronchitis will show itself evenly rattling over the entire surface of the lungs. A pneumonia is characterized by local wheezing over a specific area (for example, on the right side under the clavicle or on the left side under the scapula).

There are also certain differences that can be established by means of an X-ray examination. The picture clearly shows if there are lesions of the lung tissue or not. If there are changes in the lungs, this indicates the presence of pneumonia, if not - it's bronchitis.

Depending on the diagnosis made, it depends which treatment will be prescribed by the treating doctor. Most inflammation of the lungs acts as a complication of bronchitis. Pneumonia can lead to such dangerous complications as pleurisy or emphysema.

Features in children

How to distinguish bronchitis from pneumonia in a child? Due to incompletely formed respiratory and immune systems, children are very often exposed to these diseases. Therefore, in the younger generation there can be serious complications as early as 2-3 days after the appearance of the first signs of the disease. Also, the symptoms of intoxication progress much faster in children (the child becomes listless, complains of weakness, refuses to eat).

Do not self-medicate! On the 1-2 day after the first signs of a cold a baby should be taken to the doctor. He will examine him, listen to the lungs, put an accurate diagnosis and prescribe the appropriate treatment. If a child has a body temperature above 38 ° C for 3 days, the physician prescribes antibiotic therapy.

в домашних условиях. So, we found out how to distinguish bronchitis from pneumonia in the home. But do not risk your health, do self-medication and wait for serious complications, as every day the process is aggravated and the disease progresses. Remember: to put the correct diagnosis and appoint the optimal treatment can only an experienced specialist. Take care of your health and the health of your loved ones. Well-being!