Anatomically Bronchus is part of our airways,which leads air from upper respiratory tract i.e.,nose, pharynx,trachea,to lungs.Inflammation of linning epithilium of the bronchus leads to a condition known as Bronchitis.Main symton of bronchitis is cough.It can be Acute or Chronic bronchitis on the basis of duration of symptoms.Acute lasts for about 3 weeks & chronic is characterized by cough productive of sputum not attributable to other causes on most days for atleast 3 months over 2 consequetive days.chronic bronchitis is included in COPD(Chronic obstuctive pulmonary diseases).
Aetoiology of Acute Bronchitis-There are lots of different viruses, that can cause bronchitis. 1) Flu (influenza) viruses are one of the most common causes. 2) Cold viruses can also lead to bronchitis. Bronchitis often starts as you're just getting over another illness, such as the flu. As your body fights off the virus, it makes the lining of your lungs' airways inflammed and coated with mucus. This causes the symptoms of bronchitis. Bacteria rarely cause bronchitis.Some other things can damage the lining of your lungs and lead to bronchitis. Breathing in a lot of chemical fumes or smoke from a fire may do this.Air pollution can also trigger bronchitis, especially if you already have another condition that affects your heart or lungs. Dust from animals and plant farming, mining and working with stone can lead to bronchitis. However, it usually takes many years for this type of lung damage to happen. It usually causes long-lasting (chronic) bronchitis, not acute bronchitis.
Chronic Bronchitis-
If you smoke, you're at increased risk of getting chronic bronchitis. But researchers aren't sure if smoking increases your chances of getting a bout of acute bronchitis. COPD is a lung disease that's usually caused by smoking. If you have a bad cough that never seems to go away, and if you get out of breath without doing very much, you may have this condition.
Key messages for people with COPD
Smoking is the main cause of COPD.
If you have a smoker's cough or get out of breath easily, you could have COPD(Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease).
You can get COPD even if you quit smoking some years ago.
There are treatments that can help you breathe more easily and live a more active life.
If you stop smoking, it will slow down how quickly your lungs gets worse.
HOW YOUR LUNGS WORK
To understand what happens in COPD and how to treat it, it helps to know something about your lungs.
When you breathe in, air goes into your lungs through your windpipe.
Your lungs are in the center of your chest, behind your ribs.
They are like two spongy, stretchy bags that fill up with air when you breathe in and empty when you breathe out.
When you take a breath, air travels down your windpipe and goes into your lungs.
The air passes into your lungs through a network of thin tubes.
These tubes are lined with fine hairs (called cilia) that help to push the air through the lungs. The hairs also help to sweep tiny specks of dust or dirt and germs out of your lungs.
The lungs make small amounts of a thick fluid, called mucus. It keeps the airways moist and helps get rid of dirt and germs.
The air you breathe in goes into tiny sacs at the end of each airway. Your doctor may call these sacs alveoli.
Each little sac is covered with tiny blood vessels. Oxygen from the air passes through the wall of the air sac and into the blood vessels.
The blood carries the oxygen all around your body. Oxygen is released into your body's tissues to be used as food. After your tissues use the oxygen, waste gases pass back to the blood.
The blood returns to your lungs with these waste gases. The gases move through the air sacs and back into your lungs. These are gases that your cells don't need any more, mainly carbon dioxide. When you breathe out, you get rid of these gases.
WHAT HAPPENS IN COPD.
Risk factors for COPD-
1) SMOKING-
About 9 in 10 people who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are, or used to be, heavy smokers. 1 Breathing in smoke from a smoker near you (secondhand smoke) also can cause COPD.
The poisons in cigarette smoke harm the lungs in many ways. The damage they do leads to COPD. For example, they can make your airways swell up and make them rough and sore on the inside. Then your airways make more mucus and get blocked.
If you give up smoking, your chances of getting COPD go down. But even after about 10 years of not smoking, 1 in 10 people who used to smoke get COPD.
Not all smokers get COPD. A lot depends on how your body handles smoke and poisons. This is controlled by the genes you've inherited from your parents.
2)AIR POLLUTION-
Although smoking is the biggest cause of COPD, air pollution can play a part, especially in places where there is a lot of heavy industry. 1 In these areas, there tend to be more harmful particles and harmful gases in the air, such as sulfur dioxide.
Like cigarette smoke, these gases irritate your airways and make them swollen. Then the airways make more mucus. The chemicals also damage the walls of the tiny sacs in your lungs so that they can't hold air so well.
3)YOUR JOB
People who work near harmful dusts, chemicals or gases are more likely to get COPD than those who don't. 1 Like cigarette smoke, these things irritate your airways and make them swell. They also increase mucus in the airways and damage the walls of the sacs in the lungs so that they can't hold air so well.
If you work in an industry like farming or mining, where you could be exposed to harmful substances, be sure to follow safety advice to protect your lungs.
4)INFECTIONS
If you get a lot of chest infections, you may be more likely to get COPD, especially if you smoke. Getting bacterial or viral infections can lead to chronic bronchitis. If you have that, your lungs produce too much mucus. That makes it harder for you to breathe.
5)YOUR GENETIC MAKE UP-
Smoking is such an important risk factor for COPD, you might think that nearly everyone who smokes would get it. But only about 1 in 5 smokers develop COPD. It seems that some people are more likely to be hurt by cigarette smoke than othersf you smoke (or used to smoke), and if you have a close relative (mother, father, brother or sister) with COPD, you are more likely to get COPD than someone who smokes but doesn't have a relative with COPD. Scientists don't know yet which genes are involved.
One rare type of COPD is definitely linked to your genes. It is called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, and it causes emphysema, but not chronic bronchitis.
This is how the poisons in cigarette smoke and in other chemicals damage people's lungs.
They irritate the airways in the lungs and make them produce more mucus.
They stop the tiny hairs in the airways (cilia) from working properly. This means mucus stays trapped in the lungs instead of being forced out when you cough. Too much mucus in your airways makes it hard to breathe.
They make the walls of the airways swell and get thicker. When this happens, the airways get narrower. This makes it harder to breathe.
They damage the walls of the small sacs in the lungs that hold air (the alveoli). Less oxygen can get through the walls and into your blood. When you don't have enough oxygen in your blood, you get out of breath and tired faster.
1 comment for 'what is bronchitis ??'
Anatomically Bronchus is part of our airways,which leads air from upper respiratory tract i.e.,nose, pharynx,trachea,to lungs.Inflammation of linning epithilium of the bronchus leads to a condition known as Bronchitis.Main symton of bronchitis is cough.It can be Acute or Chronic bronchitis on the basis of duration of symptoms.Acute lasts for about 3 weeks & chronic is characterized by cough productive of sputum not attributable to other causes on most days for atleast 3 months over 2 consequetive days.chronic bronchitis is included in COPD(Chronic obstuctive pulmonary diseases).
Aetoiology of Acute Bronchitis-There are lots of different viruses, that can cause bronchitis. 1) Flu (influenza) viruses are one of the most common causes. 2) Cold viruses can also lead to bronchitis. Bronchitis often starts as you're just getting over another illness, such as the flu. As your body fights off the virus, it makes the lining of your lungs' airways inflammed and coated with mucus. This causes the symptoms of bronchitis. Bacteria rarely cause bronchitis.Some other things can damage the lining of your lungs and lead to bronchitis. Breathing in a lot of chemical fumes or smoke from a fire may do this.Air pollution can also trigger bronchitis, especially if you already have another condition that affects your heart or lungs. Dust from animals and plant farming, mining and working with stone can lead to bronchitis. However, it usually takes many years for this type of lung damage to happen. It usually causes long-lasting (chronic) bronchitis, not acute bronchitis.
Chronic Bronchitis-
If you smoke, you're at increased risk of getting chronic bronchitis. But researchers aren't sure if smoking increases your chances of getting a bout of acute bronchitis. COPD is a lung disease that's usually caused by smoking. If you have a bad cough that never seems to go away, and if you get out of breath without doing very much, you may have this condition.
Key messages for people with COPD
Smoking is the main cause of COPD.
If you have a smoker's cough or get out of breath easily, you could have COPD(Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease).
You can get COPD even if you quit smoking some years ago.
There are treatments that can help you breathe more easily and live a more active life.
If you stop smoking, it will slow down how quickly your lungs gets worse.
HOW YOUR LUNGS WORK
To understand what happens in COPD and how to treat it, it helps to know something about your lungs.
When you breathe in, air goes into your lungs through your windpipe.
Your lungs are in the center of your chest, behind your ribs.
They are like two spongy, stretchy bags that fill up with air when you breathe in and empty when you breathe out.
When you take a breath, air travels down your windpipe and goes into your lungs.
The air passes into your lungs through a network of thin tubes.
These tubes are lined with fine hairs (called cilia) that help to push the air through the lungs. The hairs also help to sweep tiny specks of dust or dirt and germs out of your lungs.
The lungs make small amounts of a thick fluid, called mucus. It keeps the airways moist and helps get rid of dirt and germs.
The air you breathe in goes into tiny sacs at the end of each airway. Your doctor may call these sacs alveoli.
Each little sac is covered with tiny blood vessels. Oxygen from the air passes through the wall of the air sac and into the blood vessels.
The blood carries the oxygen all around your body. Oxygen is released into your body's tissues to be used as food. After your tissues use the oxygen, waste gases pass back to the blood.
The blood returns to your lungs with these waste gases. The gases move through the air sacs and back into your lungs. These are gases that your cells don't need any more, mainly carbon dioxide. When you breathe out, you get rid of these gases.
WHAT HAPPENS IN COPD.
Risk factors for COPD-
1) SMOKING-
About 9 in 10 people who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are, or used to be, heavy smokers. 1 Breathing in smoke from a smoker near you (secondhand smoke) also can cause COPD.
The poisons in cigarette smoke harm the lungs in many ways. The damage they do leads to COPD. For example, they can make your airways swell up and make them rough and sore on the inside. Then your airways make more mucus and get blocked.
If you give up smoking, your chances of getting COPD go down. But even after about 10 years of not smoking, 1 in 10 people who used to smoke get COPD.
Not all smokers get COPD. A lot depends on how your body handles smoke and poisons. This is controlled by the genes you've inherited from your parents.
2)AIR POLLUTION-
Although smoking is the biggest cause of COPD, air pollution can play a part, especially in places where there is a lot of heavy industry. 1 In these areas, there tend to be more harmful particles and harmful gases in the air, such as sulfur dioxide.
Like cigarette smoke, these gases irritate your airways and make them swollen. Then the airways make more mucus. The chemicals also damage the walls of the tiny sacs in your lungs so that they can't hold air so well.
3)YOUR JOB
People who work near harmful dusts, chemicals or gases are more likely to get COPD than those who don't. 1 Like cigarette smoke, these things irritate your airways and make them swell. They also increase mucus in the airways and damage the walls of the sacs in the lungs so that they can't hold air so well.
If you work in an industry like farming or mining, where you could be exposed to harmful substances, be sure to follow safety advice to protect your lungs.
4)INFECTIONS
If you get a lot of chest infections, you may be more likely to get COPD, especially if you smoke. Getting bacterial or viral infections can lead to chronic bronchitis. If you have that, your lungs produce too much mucus. That makes it harder for you to breathe.
5)YOUR GENETIC MAKE UP-
Smoking is such an important risk factor for COPD, you might think that nearly everyone who smokes would get it. But only about 1 in 5 smokers develop COPD. It seems that some people are more likely to be hurt by cigarette smoke than othersf you smoke (or used to smoke), and if you have a close relative (mother, father, brother or sister) with COPD, you are more likely to get COPD than someone who smokes but doesn't have a relative with COPD. Scientists don't know yet which genes are involved.
One rare type of COPD is definitely linked to your genes. It is called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, and it causes emphysema, but not chronic bronchitis.
This is how the poisons in cigarette smoke and in other chemicals damage people's lungs.
They irritate the airways in the lungs and make them produce more mucus.
They stop the tiny hairs in the airways (cilia) from working properly. This means mucus stays trapped in the lungs instead of being forced out when you cough. Too much mucus in your airways makes it hard to breathe.
They make the walls of the airways swell and get thicker. When this happens, the airways get narrower. This makes it harder to breathe.
They damage the walls of the small sacs in the lungs that hold air (the alveoli). Less oxygen can get through the walls and into your blood. When you don't have enough oxygen in your blood, you get out of breath and tired faster.