Medical Health Care Advices

Bronchiolitis is a common disease of the respiratory tract caused by an infection that affects the tiny airways, called “bronchioles, leading to the lungs. As these airways become inflamed, they swell and fill with mucus, making it difficult to breathe.

Bronchiolitis:

* Most often affects infants and young children because their small airways become blocked more easily than those of older children or adults

* Usually occurs in the first two years of life, with a higher incidence between 3 and 6 months

* Is more common in boys, in those who were not breastfed and those living in overcrowded

Both care and exposure to cigarette smoke may also increase the chances of a baby from bronchiolitis.

While often it is a mild illness, some infants are at risk of suffering a more serious condition that requires hospitalization. The conditions that increase the risk of severe infection include prematurity, lung disease, prior chronic heart and immune system weakened by disease or medications.

Children who have had bronchiolitis may be more likely to develop asthma in later life, but still not clear whether bronchiolitis causes or triggers asthma, or whether children who eventually develop asthma alone were more likely to develop bronchiolitis being babies. Studies are underway to clarify the relationship between bronchiolitis and subsequent development of asthma.

Bronchiolitis is usually caused by a viral infection, usually respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Infections caused by this virus are responsible for more than half of all cases of bronchiolitis and occur mostly in winter and early spring. Other viruses associated with bronchiolitis include rhinovirus, influenza virus and metapneumovirus.