My baby or child has bronchiolitis: an infection of the lungs

Abstract

Bronchiolitis is a very common childhood infection of part of the lungs. A virus called respiratory syncytial virus, “RSV,” causes it. There are common ways to diagnose bronchiolitis and treat the symptoms. However, there is no medicine that gets rid of the virus causing it. The handout describes how bronchiolitis is diagnosed and treated, ways to decreased spreading the infection, and possible complications. Research studies show that using antibiotics does not decrease length of illness for young children <2 years old with bronchiolitis. Research has shown there is a low risk of a child with bronchiolitis having an additional serious bacterial infection. This is usually true even even if the child has a fever or chest x-ray showing pneumonia. The harm of giving a child an antibiotic are side effects like diarrhea, possible allergy, and risk of making bacteria more resistant to antibiotics. When there is no benefit to giving antibiotics, it is not worth risking the possible harms. Some children will get very sick from bronchiolitis and might need to be in the hospital for certain treatments. Some children with certain medical conditions get medicine to prevent bronchiolitis. Once in awhile children with bronchiolitis might also have an ear infection or urinary tract infection. Antibiotics do help these infections. More children who have bronchiolitis when young will get asthma than children who do not have the infection, but no one knows why. The best way to prevent spreading the infection is hand-washing. Babies who are breast-fed and babies who are not around cigarette smoke have a lower chance of getting bronchiolitis.