Acute bronchitis is a very common respiratory disease. The development of bronchitis is facilitated by bacterial, viral infection, as well as viral-bacterial associations. The peak incidence of acute bronchial inflammation usually occurs during the cold season, especially during epidemic outbreaks of the flu and respiratory viral infections. This disease limits the ability to work, requires the appointment of bed rest, and therefore, if bronchitis develops , antibiotic treatment is considered by many to be necessary.
In acute bronchitis, the infectious-allergic factor damages the wall of the bronchus, which leads to a violation of blood circulation and innervation in it. As a result of this, the production of mucus increases, the protective function of the ciliary epithelium is disrupted, the motor and evacuation function of the bronchi worsens . Pathogenic microflora penetrates the wall of the bronchus and contributes to the development of the inflammatory process.
The clinical picture of acute bronchitis is quite typical. The first manifestation of this disease is a cough. In the early days, a cough is dry, unproductive, or with a small amount of sputum, which coughs hard. The cough is accompanied by a feeling of sore throat and behind the sternum in the upper part. After a few days, sputum begins, usually of a mucous or mucopurulent character. Hoarseness, dyspnea during physical exertion may appear. The most important diagnostic study is fluorography, which allows differential diagnosis of bronchitis and pneumonia.
Treatment of acute bronchitis should be comprehensive and be carried out taking into account etiological and pathogenetic factors. In the early days of the disease, the patient is prescribed bed rest. You need to drink plenty of fluids: tea with raspberry or currant jam, with linden blossom, ginger, milk with soda, heated alkaline mineral water. Drug treatment consists in the appointment of anti-inflammatory, antitussive, expectorant drugs, vitamins, if necessary, antipyretic.
In acute inflammation of the bronchi, the use of antibiotics is always relevant. If acute bronchitis has developed, antibiotics are often used, but are they always needed? As a rule, acute inflammation of the bronchi is caused by a viral infection, bacterial inflammation is much less common, but can join with an ineffective treatment of the disease. Antibiotics do not act on a viral infection. If acute viral bronchitis is treated, antibiotics cannot bring the desired effect, since the appointment of antiviral drugs is required. Therefore, for the treatment of this disease, mainly symptomatic treatment and means for combating viral infection are used. At the same time, colds are often complicated by the addition of a bacterial infection. In this case, antibiotics are additionally treated for acute bronchitis.
It is worth thinking about the development of a bacterial complication if intoxication symptoms and temperature increase, purulent sputum appears. When these symptoms appear, antibiotics must be included in the treatment. Semi-synthetic antibiotics and macrolides are commonly used. Usually, if there is bronchitis, antibiotics are used orally. In severe cases, a high risk of developing pneumonia, antibiotics are prescribed parenterally.
We examined what acute bronchitis treatment requires. Antibiotics for this disease are not the main group of drugs, but their appointment becomes mandatory with the development of complications. The appointment of antibiotics is also required for exacerbation of the chronic form of bronchitis.