Diseases that affect the respiratory system: bronchitis
The bronchi make the connections between the lungs and the windpipe. They are lining of your bronchial tubes and allow air to flow into your body. These bronchi can get infected, or inflamed making it harder fro air to travel to the lungs. This condition is called bronchitis.
Apart form making it very difficult to breath, the inflammation of the bronchi can also cause mucus in the airways, or phlegm. There are two types of bronchitis: acute and chronic bronchitis. There can also be another type of bronchitis, but only in people who suffer from asthma.
The first type of bronchitis, the acute one, can develop from a cold that you might suffer and usually lasts a week at the most. It can also be caused by viral infections. It is accompanied by cough, pain in the middle of the chest and sometimes even fever. When suffering from acute bronchitis, one might experience some shortness of breath, but very little and fro short periods of time.
The second type of bronchitis, the chronic one is caracterized by a cough that produces mucus. In people suffering from this ilness, problems breathing are very dens. They are also more likely to get lung infections, thing which can generate even more problems with their breathing. This ilness is mainly characterized by clogged or narrowed airways, thing which causes the problems you might have breathing. It gets very difficult for air to from the environment to the lungs.
It is very important to know that the reason we get acute bronchitis is due to viruses in almost all of the cases. Viruses travel through the air and when they go into the bronchi, cause an infection. Our body then tries to protect us from the virus. When this happens more mucus is produced and the swelling can get even worse. We get bronchitis from the same virus that causes the cold, though there are times when a bacteria can cause bronchitis. This is more likely to happen after you have suffered from a cold.
It is only necessary for the bronchial tubes to get irritated for more than two weeks and the qunatity of muscus that the body produces increases. This part of the body starts to thicken, coughing becomes even worse than before, problems in breathing start to grow even more alarming and the lungs are therefor in more danger. Bronchial tubes are a very good place for infections.
As bad as it all sound, things are not that bad. A case of acute bronchitis usually lasts only a few days. The cases that are more severe can also produce chest pain. Chronic bronchitis has very minor symptoms and it can be easily treated. There are cause when the symptoms may get worse over the years and even start to threaten once s life at some point, but these are rare cases.
For greater resources on bronchitis please visit http://www.bronchitis-guide.com/acute-bronchitis.htm or http://www.bronchitis-guide.com/asthmatic-bronchitis.htm