commonest wheezing problems in children

Dr Kondekar Santosh - Pediatrician Mumbai

bronchiolitis is the commonest wheezing problem in children upto 2 years.
It is not asthma.
bronchioles are the part of respiratory tract which joins air pipe to lungs. -itis means inflammation meaning swelling secretion and necrosis & narrowing of the area.
wheezing is not necessarily from noisy breathing; it is many a times associated with abnormal chest movements.
commonly this infection is common in age group 2 to 4 months age. Younger the age, the more prolonged or
difficult is the course of illness.
Most bronchiolitis get cured on its own. Almost more than 92%. They are commonly due to viruses like respiratory
syncitial virus and parainfluenza virus . They are self limiting and can be recurrent as many times.
The children with predesposing chest conditions are more susceptible for bronchiolitis. viz . chronic lung diseases and congenital heart diseases.
There is surely a chance to progress to a chronic wheezing disorder like asthma.
The classic clinical features of bronchiolitis are onset with mild to high fever with runny nose for 2 days then
respiratory distress mainly in the form of cough, noisy breathing or wheezing lasting for 3- 5 days with or without treatment. If there is any compromise in feeding or oxygenation (which is uncommon), child may require admission for observation and if at all any therapy.
symptomatic treatment with maintaining feeding hydration and comfort mostly cures the illness in natural course.
surely, there is no role for antibiotics.
In some situations (less often) bronchodilators, steroid, ribavarin, palivizumab etc may be used depending on individual cases.
for more details write to http://allexperts.com/expert.cgi?m=1&catID=1429&expID=70450