Related topics: •  Cough (Children) •  How to Stop a Cold

When your child has a cold, sore throat, flu, or sinus infection, the virus that caused the misery can spread to the bronchial tubes that connect her throat to her lungs. Once the germs take hold there, her airways become swollen, inflamed, and partly blocked with mucus, a condition known as bronchitis.

Your child will start coughing deeply and might spit out green, gray, or yellowish phlegm. Her chest may hurt, she may have a slight fever, and she'll probably feel constantly tired.

While bacterial infections and irritants such as cigarette smoke and dust also can trigger bronchitis, viruses are by far the most common culprits when children get the illness.

Although fever associated with bronchitis may last just a few days, the cough may linger for two to three weeks. Often the cough will become wetter and more productive near the end of the illness. Some people -- almost always adults who smoke or children who live with smokers -- suffer symptoms for months at a time. This is called chronic bronchitis, and it's another excellent reason to keep cigarettes out of your house.

The key to beating bronchitis is opening up your child's clogged airways. Her doctor may prescribe cough medicine containing an expectorant or recommend an over-the-counter brand to help clear out the mucus. As much as you hate to hear your child hacking away, don't give her a cough suppressant -- coughing up mucus is a vital part of healing. If your child's doctor thinks that asthma or reactive airway disease is involved in the cough, he or she may also prescribe a bronchodilator (a medication to widen the air passages) or a corticosteroid (a medication to ease inflammation).

Remember, childhood bronchitis is almost always caused by a virus. That means antibiotics -- which kill only bacteria -- aren't likely to work against your child's illness. If, however, your child has chronic bronchitis and there's a sudden change in the color or amount of mucus, she probably does have a bacterial infection that could be cleared up with antibiotics.

Call a doctor immediately if your child is working hard to breathe or is breathing fast (especially if her temperature is normal) or is wheezing as well as coughing. Make an appointment if her cough lasts for more than two or three weeks.

Call paramedics or head for the emergency room if your child is turning blue in the face, struggling to breathe, or coughing up blood.

You can relieve your child's congestion by making sure she drinks eight to 10 glasses of liquids each day. If your house has dry air, a humidifier may speed her recovery. Cold weather, dust, and smoke can irritate her airways, so let her rest in a clean, warm, smoke-free room. You can give her acetaminophen or ibuprofen to ease her fever and pain. (A child under the age of 16 who has a viral infection should never take aspirin because of the risk of Reye's syndrome, a potentially life-threatening infection.)

To help prevent bronchitis, treat your child's colds and other illnesses promptly. You may even want her to get a flu shot before the season strikes. The Centers for Disease Control recommends flu shots for children from 6 months to 5 years of age. In fact, a recent study at the University of Virginia showed that vaccinating all school-age children against the flu would cut back significantly on parents' missing work.

-- Chris Woolston, M.S., is a health and medical writer with a master's degree in biology. He is a contributing editor at Consumer Health Interactive, and was the staff writer at Hippocrates, a magazine for physicians. He has also covered science issues for Time Inc. Health, WebMD, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. His reporting on occupational health earned him an award from the northern California Society of Professional Journalists.

Further Resources

Robert H. Pantell M.D., James F. Fries M.D., Donald M. Vickery M.D., Taking Care of Your Child: A Parent's Illustrated Guide to Complete Medical Care. Perseus Books Publishing, L.L.C.: 1999.

References

First published August 9, 1999
Last updated June 21, 2007
Copyright © 1999 Consumer Health Interactive

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