To diagnose bronchitis, your healthcare provider will do a physical exam and ask about your medical history and symptoms. Your provider may also order a blood test to look for signs of infection, or a chest X-ray to check whether your lungs and bronchial tubes look normal.
Chest X-Ray Chest X-rays can help confirm a diagnosis of chronic bronchitis and rule out other lung conditions. Sputum Examination Analysis of cells in your sputum can help determine the cause of some lung problems.
Bronchitis Diagnosis
Your doctor usually can tell whether you have bronchitis based on a physical exam and your symptoms. They'll ask about your cough, such as how long you've had it and what kind of mucus comes up with it. They'll also listen to your lungs to see whether anything sounds wrong, like wheezing.
Most people DO NOT need antibiotics for acute bronchitis caused by a virus. The infection will almost always go away on its own within 1 week. Doing these things may help you feel better: Drink plenty of fluids.
A bronchitis cough sounds like a rattle with a wheezing or whistling sound. As your condition progresses, you will first have a dry cough that can then progress towards coughing up white mucus.
Treatment. Acute bronchitis usually gets better on its own—without antibiotics. Antibiotics won't help you get better if you have acute bronchitis. When antibiotics aren't needed, they won't help you, and their side effects could still cause harm.
A persistent cough that lasts one to three weeks is the main symptom of bronchitis. You usually bring up mucus when you cough with bronchitis, but you might get a dry cough instead. You might also hear a whistling or rattling sound when you breathe (wheezing).
Don't smoke and avoid secondhand smoke, chemicals, dust, or air pollution. Always cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing. Keep your distance from others when you are sick, if possible. Antibiotics will not treat acute bronchitis.
Causes. Acute bronchitis is usually caused by airway inflammation from viral infections, such as the cold, influenza (flu), respiratory syncytial virus RSV, or COVID-19 viruses. Occasionally, a bacterial infection can cause acute bronchitis.
Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and milk products. Try home remedies like spicy foods, mullein tea, vitamin C, zinc, garlic, and over-the-counter saline nasal spray.
In addition to lab tests, sputum or mucus from a cough can be visually examined to determine whether bronchitis is viral, bacterial, or both. Clear or white mucus often indicates a viral infection, while yellow or green mucus may suggest a bacterial infection.
Other symptoms of bronchitis include chest pain, wheezing, shortness of breath, and fatigue. To find out if you have bronchitis, your doctor will listen for crackly sounds in your chest when you breathe. You may also need a chest x-ray or other tests to see how well your lungs are working.
Healthcare providers can often diagnose acute bronchitis by taking a health history and doing a physical exam. Blood tests, breathing tests, and imaging tests may also be used. In most cases, antibiotics are not needed to treat acute bronchitis.
Since most cases of acute bronchitis are caused by a virus, your doctor most likely won't prescribe an antibiotic unless they think that you have a bacterial infection. But if you have particularly severe or persistent symptoms, doctors may prescribe a short course of steroids to relieve symptoms, says Holguin.
Extreme fatigue. More coughing, with thicker phlegm or mucus. Needing to use a quick-relief "rescue" inhaler or nebulizer more often. Weight gain of three pounds or more in a day's time.
If you have acute bronchitis, you might have cold symptoms, such as a mild headache or body aches. While these symptoms usually improve in about a week, you may have a nagging cough that lingers for several weeks.
If you have symptoms of bronchitis, stay home to avoid spreading your viral infection to others. To properly treat your acute bronchitis, get plenty of rest, drink lots of liquids, and take over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen (Advil) and acetaminophen (Tylenol) to treat your symptoms.
Typically, bronchitis does not turn into pneumonia. In some cases, a person with bronchitis develops a secondary infection that may turn into pneumonia, usually when a bacterial infection spreads from the bronchial tubes to the lungs.
Bronchitis can be contagious, but it depends upon which kind the patient has. Typically, those with acute bronchitis can be contagious while those with the chronic form are less likely to be able to spread it to someone else. Acute bronchitis is contagious if it is caused by either a cold or flu viruses.