How Do I Recognize Bronchitis In Infants?

Bronchitis in infants and young children is a clinical symptom secondary to respiratory infections or some acute respiratory infections. The cause is a variety of bacteria or viruses, or a combined infection. Symptoms can be slow or urgent, most of them have symptoms first, cough is the main manifestation, starting with dry cough, and later there is sputum, such as bacterial infection, spit yellow sputum.

Bronchitis in infants

Clinical manifestations of bronchitis in infants

Onset can be urgent and slow. Most of them first have symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections, and frequent and deep dry coughs may also occur. Later, bronchial secretions gradually develop. Dry and wet rales can be heard in the chest, with moderate non-bubble sounds, occasionally limited to one side. . Infants and young children do not expectorate and swallow more through the pharynx. Patients with mild symptoms had no apparent illness, and those with severe fever had a temperature of 38 to 39 ° C, occasionally reaching 40 ° C, and retreated within 2 to 3 days. Feeling tired, affecting sleep appetite, and even vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and other gastrointestinal symptoms. Older children complained of headaches and chest pain. Cough usually lasts for 7 to 10 days, sometimes for 2 to 3 weeks, or recurrent. If not treated properly, it can cause pneumonia, white blood cells are normal or slightly lower, and those who are elevated may have secondary bacterial infections.

Children with healthy bodies rarely have complications, but in children with malnutrition, low immune function, congenital respiratory malformations, chronic nasopharyngitis, and rickets, they are not only prone to bronchitis, but also complicated by pneumonia, otitis media, laryngitis, and parasinusitis. .

Causes of bronchitis in infants

Why do babies get bronchitis easily? Compared with adults, babies (especially infants under one year old) have the following different characteristics:

1. The diameter of the trachea is small, so the air resistance is large.

2. In terms of aerodynamics, the percentage of air resistance in the lungs of the children's peripheral lungs is relatively large, so if there is something wrong, breathing will be very laborious.

3. The development of cartilage and smooth muscles of the trachea is still not sound. Once there is a problem, it is easy to collapse, resulting in increased respiratory resistance.

4. The elasticity of the entire thorax and the pectoral muscles of children are relatively fragile, which makes them more likely to have difficulty breathing.

Therefore, if infants and young children have bronchitis, symptoms will be particularly serious.

Characteristics of bronchial inflammation in infants

(1) It is more common in children under 1 year old, especially in infants under 6 months.

(B) the disease can occur all year round, but more common in winter and spring.

(3) The onset is relatively rapid, with early symptoms of colds, such as cough and sneezing, and the cough worsens after 1 to 2 days, and there is paroxysmal drowsiness [1] Difficulty, wheezing, pale complexion, cyanosis of lips, tricuspid sign, lung Early signs of wheezing are the main signs, followed by wet sounds. Severe symptoms can be associated with congestive heart failure, respiratory failure, hypoxic encephalopathy, and water and electrolyte disorders. Generally, the body temperature does not exceed 38.5 ° C, and the course of disease is 1 to 2 weeks.

(4) The white blood cells are usually normal or slightly increased. Blood gas analysis showed that hypoxemia and arterial blood carbon dioxide partial pressure decreased or increased. Chest x-rays showed thickened lung texture, enhanced bilateral lung transparency, or small shadows and atelectasis. Conditions can be used for rapid diagnosis of respiratory secretion virus to determine the virus type.

Features

The onset of bronchitis in infants and young children can be urgent and slow. Most of them first have symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections, and frequent and deep dry coughs may occur suddenly, and bronchial secretions gradually develop. Infants and young children do not expectorate and swallow more through the pharynx. Patients with mild symptoms had no apparent illness, and those with severe fever had a temperature of 38 to 39 ° C, occasionally reaching 40 ° C, and retreated within 2 to 3 days. Feeling tired, affecting sleep appetite, and even vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and other gastrointestinal symptoms. Older children complained of headaches and chest pain. Cough usually lasts for 7 to 10 days, sometimes for 2 to 3 weeks, or recurrent. If not treated properly, it can cause pneumonia, white blood cells are normal or slightly lower, and those who are elevated may have secondary bacterial infections.

Treatment of bronchitis in infants

Treatments for infants and young children with bronchitis include general treatment, traditional Chinese medicine and other treatment methods.

General treatment of infant bronchitis

Regarding rest, adjustment of temperature and humidity in the eating room, please refer to "Upper Respiratory Tract Infection". Babies must be frequently repositioned to facilitate the discharge of respiratory secretions. Antitussives can be given when coughs frequently prevent rest, but overdose should be avoided to suppress coughing of secretions. When acute bronchitis causes spasm and dyspnea, refer to the following traditional Chinese medical treatment "real heat asthma" treatment, and severe cases refer to the treatment of bronchiolitis and bronchial asthma.

Traditional Chinese Medicine for Bronchitis in Infants

TCM is called exogenous cough. Due to different pathogenic factors, it is clinically divided into wind-cold cough, wind-heat cough, and real-heat asthma. The main treatment method is to relieve wind and disperse cold, clear heat and lungs, and reduce fever and asthma. Can be combined with clinical syndrome management.

(1) Wind-cold cough: mainly with sudden cough and frequent coughing, thin sputum, nasal congestion, runny nose, itching or with headache, chills or no fever, white fur, and pulse floating. Governance with Xin Wen Jie table, scattered cold and cough. Xingsu San addition and subtraction.

Examples of prescriptions: 6g almonds, 3g perilla leaves, 9g Qianhu, 6g half-duplex, 6g burdock seeds, 3 ginger.

(2) Wind-heat cough: Cough is unpleasant, sputum is mainly yellow and viscous, red throat is dry, nasal congestion is yellow, or sweat is accompanied by fever, tongue coating is yellowish white, and pulses are floating. Governance by Xinliang solution, Xuanfei cough. Common mulberry drink addition and subtraction.

(3) Solid fever asthma: In addition to the symptoms described above, the child has a high fever and is accompanied by wheezing. Governance to Xuanfei Huatan, Jiangni asthma. Common Ma Xing Shi Gan Decoction.

Prescription example: Ephedra 3g, Almond 6g, Gypsum 15g, Licorice 3g, Qingdai 3g, Suzi 6g, Laizizi 9g, other medicines can be selected according to the symptoms 1 or 2 flavors: If the weight is high, add 9g chrysanthemum, fresh reed 15g. Add 6g Scutellaria baicalensis, 9g silver flower, and 9g forsythia during thermogravimetry. When coughing, add Qiang 9g or Baibu 9g. When wheezing, choose 6g turmeric, 9g ginkgo or 15g raw vermiculite. Add sputum 9g and coix seed 9g for a long time.

Other treatments for bronchitis in infants

Sometimes it is necessary to use an appropriate amount of spit root syrup, 2 to 15 drops each time for infants and young children, 1 to 2 ml each time, 4 to 6 times a day, which can make sputum easy to cough. 10% ammonium chloride solution has the same effect, and its dosage is 0.1 0.2ml / kg each time. For bacterial infections, appropriate antibacterial drugs can be used. In addition, ultra-short wave or ultraviolet radiation can be added to persistent bronchitis.

Infant bronchitis home care

Bronchitis is a common respiratory disease in children with a high prevalence, which can occur throughout the year, and peaks in winter and spring. When suffering from bronchitis, children often have varying degrees of fever, cough, loss of appetite or vomiting, diarrhea, etc. Smaller children may also have wheezing, wheezing and other symptoms of bronchiolitis. Although a small number of children may develop bronchial pneumonia, most of the children are relatively mild. They are mainly treated and treated at home with medicines. Parents should follow the doctor's advice to give the children medicine and time home care:

1. Keep warm: temperature changes, especially cold stimuli can reduce local resistance of the bronchial mucosa and aggravate the condition of bronchitis. Therefore, parents should add or remove clothing to children in time with temperature changes, especially to cover children during sleep. Good quilt to keep your body temperature above 36.5 .

Second, feed more water: children with bronchitis have varying degrees of fever, water evaporation is large, you should pay attention to feed more water to children. It can be replenished with sugar water or sugar salt water, or with rice soup or egg soup. The diet is mainly semi-liquid to increase the body's moisture and meet the needs of the body.

Third, adequate nutrition: children with bronchitis have a large consumption of nutrients, coupled with fever and bacterial toxins affecting gastrointestinal function, digestion and malabsorption, so the nutritional deficiency of children should not be ignored. In this regard, parents should take a small number of multiple meals method for children, giving a light, adequate nutrition, balanced and easy to digest and absorb semi-liquid or liquid diet, such as porridge, cooked noodles, egg custard, fresh vegetables, fruit juice and so on.

Fourth, turn around and pat back: When the child coughs and sputum, it shows that the bronchial secretions increase. In order to promote the smooth discharge of secretions, aerosolized inhalants can be used to help expectorants, 2-3 times a day, 5-20 minutes each. If it is an infant, in addition to patting the back, it should also help to turn over every 1 to 2 hours to keep the child in a semi-recumbent position to facilitate the discharge of sputum.

V. Antipyretic; children with bronchitis usually have moderate to low fever. If the body temperature is below 38.5 ° C, antipyretics are generally not needed, mainly for the treatment of the etiology and fundamentally solving the problem. If the body temperature is high, older children can be physically cooled, that is, wet the head with a cold towel or wipe with warm water, but children should not use this method, if necessary, use drugs to cool down.

6. Maintain a good family environment: The child's room should be warm, well ventilated and well-lit, and there must be some humidity in the air to prevent excessive drying. If there is a smoker in the home, it is best to quit smoking or go outdoors to prevent the harmful effects of smoking on the child.