An Overview of Acute Bronchitis and Upper Respiratory Tract Infections

Abstract

A variety of viruses and bacteria can cause upper respiratory tract infections. These cause a variety of patient diseases including acute bronchitis, the common cold, influenza, and respiratory distress syndromes. Defining most of these patient diseases is difficult because the presentations connected with upper respiratory tract infections commonly overlap and their causes are similar. Upper respiratory tract infections are characterized as self-limiting irritation and oedema of the upper respiratory tract, along with coughing and no evidence of pneumonia, in a patient without a background of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, or chronic bronchitis or any other disease that would contribute to their symptomology. A typical upper respiratory tract infection includes an organism directly invading the membrane of the upper respiratory tract. Acute bronchitis is a medical term that refers to a self-limiting pulmonary inflammation which is marked by cough but not pneumonia. It is believed that acute bronchitis is an inflammatory reaction to infectious diseases of the bronchial epithelium.