The prescribing of antibiotics for bronchitis is not common.
That’s because most cases of acute bronchitisthe kind that develops rapidlyare due to a virus.
Antibiotics won’t be effective in these cases, since they only work on bacterial infections.
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Pneumonia is one such example.
Read on to find out more about how to treat bronchitis and the medicines used.
When they get infected, the tubes swell up and start producing protective mucus that triggers coughing.
Bacteria or a virus can cause this infection, thusbronchitis treatmentsvary based on the cause.
They also vary based on the individual patient.
Symptoms of bronchitis can last around three weeks after an initial cold.
They include:
Most of the time, your bronchitis should resolve on its own.
If a virus causes your bronchitis, they wont give you antibiotics because the antibiotics wouldnt do anything.
If youre young and generally healthy, they probably wont prescribe anything either.
An infection called whooping cough is brought on by the bacteriaBordetella pertussisand can cause a lingering cough.
Luckily, its prevented in most cases by the pertussis vaccine, which has reduced whooping cough infections drastically.
The symptoms of pertussis are very similar to those of bronchitis.
This usually happens one to two weeks after the initial infection.
(This infection is called the 100-day cough in China.)
Also, venture to stay away from others, especially those too young to be vaccinated.
Whooping cough is extremely dangerous to infants.
you should probably continue taking them even if you start feeling better before the course is done.
Tylenol (acetaminophen) is acceptable for treating fever.
The Cochrane report mentioned above found that patients given antibiotics were more likely to have side effects from them.
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doi:10.1002/14651858.CD000245.pub4
Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan.Bronchitis: should I take antibiotics?
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Signs of whooping cough.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About whooping cough.
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