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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staff
Acute bronchitis
The same viruses that cause colds often cause acute bronchitis. But you can also develop noninfectious bronchitis from exposure to your own or someone else's tobacco smoke and from pollutants such as household cleaners and smog.
Bronchitis may also occur when acids from your stomach consistently back up into your food pipe (esophagus) and a few drops go into your upper airway, a condition known as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). And workers exposed to certain dusts or fumes may develop occupational bronchitis, an acute disease that generally clears up when exposure to the irritant stops.
Chronic bronchitis
Sometimes inflammation and thickening of the lining of your bronchial tubes become permanent — a condition known as chronic bronchitis. You're generally considered to have chronic bronchitis if you cough most days for at least three months a year in two consecutive years. Often, however, smokers with chronic bronchitis cough almost every day, even if it's just to "clear their throats" in the morning.
Unlike acute bronchitis, chronic bronchitis is an ongoing, serious disease. Smoking is the major cause, but air pollution and dust or toxic gases in the environment or workplace also can contribute to the condition.
- What is bronchitis? National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/brnchi/brnchi_whatis.html. Accessed Feb. 11, 2009.
- Acute bronchitis. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/print/sec05/ch051/ch051a.html. Accessed Feb. 11, 2009.
- Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/vis/downloads/vis-ppv.pdf. Accessed Feb. 25, 2009.
- Chronic bronchitis. American Lung Association. http://www.lungusa.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=2058829&content_id={C79758B1-B58D-45C4-851D-2FD12958D1E3}¬oc=1. Accessed Feb. 25, 2009.
- Wei J, et al. Chinese medicinal herbs for acute bronchitis (review). Cochrane Database of Systemic Reviews. 2008:CD004560.
- Agbabiaka T, et al. Pelargonium sidoides for acute bronchitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Phytomedicine 2008;15:378.
- Long MD, et al. Extra-esophageal GERD: Clinical dilemma of epidemiology versus clinical practice. Current Gastroenterology Reports. 2007;9:195.
- Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/vis/downloads/vis-PneumoConjugate.pdf. Accessed Jan. 25, 2009.
