Bronchiolitis is a very common viral infection at this time of year. It consists of one lower airway infection, the bronchial tubes and bronchioles, causing their inflammation and consequent obstruction. The virus that most frequently produces it is the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which arises especially in the months of November to March.
It affects infants under 2 years with a maximum incidence by 6 months of age. The typical clinic begins with catarrhal symptoms (nasal obstruction with rhinorrhea) to which it is added after 2-3 days, fever or fever and respiratory distress. It usually lasts approximately 1 to 2 weeks, but it is quite common for the frame to get longer.
How to detect respiratory distress? In the infant it is manifested by rejection of shots, rapid breathing (tachypnea) and pulling, which is the use of accessory respiratory muscles and is seen when the ribs, clavicles and / or sternum are noticed when breathing.
To diagnose it, no specific test is necessary, sometimes in the smallest ones an RSV detection is performed because of all the viruses that produce it, it is the one that is most often prologized and makes this disease more insidious.
You can perfectly cope with this sickness at home. Being viral and in such young children, there is no specific or really effective treatment. The measures to take at home are:
- Split the shots: it consists of giving less amount of food in each shot, but less time
- Semi-incorporated position: that the child is not lying at all so that he can breathe better
- Nasal washes with physiological serum frequently, especially before each dose and at bedtime
- Anti-thermal treatment
- Sometimes aerosols with serum or with any medication are used, they are less useful the smaller the child
When it comes to a newborn of less than a month you should go to the doctor without fail if you eat less than half of the shots, have a high fever that does not stop or has great respiratory difficulty.
