COLD IN THE CHEST. (Acute Bronchitis. Inflammation of Bronchial Tubes)
Categories:
Respiratory Diseases
This is an acute inflammation of the larger and medium sized bronchial
tubes.
Causes. Youth and old age are more predisposed to it. Lack of fresh air
and exercise, dusty work, poor general health, dampness and changeable
weather in winter and early spring. It may be secondary to cold,
pharyngitis, measles, typhoid fever, malaria, asthma, and heart disease.
Symptom
. There is a feeling of oppression with chilliness and pain in
the back, a dry, tight feeling beneath the breastbone with a dry harsh
cough. This may cause headache and pain, and a raw feeling in the chest,
chiefly in front. There may be a temperature of one hundred or one hundred
three or less. After a few days there is a thick, sticky secretion; it is
profuse. The other symptoms, except the cough, subside. This generally
stops in ten days in a favorable case, or it may become chronic. In
infants or old people it may extend to the smaller tubes causing
broncho-pneumonia. There is more danger in infants than in older people.