Tracheitis is an inflammatory process that covers the mucous membrane of the trachea. This pathology proceeds acutely or chronically, develops, as a rule, as a result of hypothermia, with influenza, measles or whooping cough, and other infectious pathologies of the respiratory system. Favorable factors for its development are diseases of the lungs and heart, and in children - rickets and exudative diathesis. In addition, tracheitis develops with weak immunity, especially with HIV infection. Poor living conditions can also provoke inflammation of the trachea.
It is worth noting that the disease is characterized by seasonality - most often recorded in spring and autumn. According to clinical manifestations, tracheitis resembles acute bronchitis. If this tracheal lesion occurs against the background of diphtheria, then asphyxia may develop in young children, so timely therapy is extremely important.
Acute tracheitis: symptoms
The main manifestation is sore throat, dry cough and discomfort behind the sternum. At the same time, the cough is intermittent, paroxysmal, accompanied by sputum production.
Acute tracheitis is most commonly caused bypneumococci and influenza bacillus. The disease is promoted by dry and cold air, general hypothermia and unfavorable ecological state of the environment.
When acute tracheitis is diagnosed, the symptoms of this disease include significant swelling of the trachea and the release of a viscous secretion. Patients complain of weakness, migraine-type headache, and fever. At first, rhinitis is observed, which is subsequently replaced by hoarseness and dry cough. It is worth noting that when tracheitis develops, the symptoms of such lesions may be similar to those observed in other respiratory diseases. Therefore, diagnosis is often difficult.
Chronic forms of tracheitis
They develop against the background of untimely or inadequate treatment of acute inflammatory lesions of the trachea, as well as in diseases that are accompanied by blood stasis (emphysema, heart or kidney damage). Quite often, chronic tracheitis, the symptoms of which, as a rule, include paroxysmal cough, are the result of smoking. They proceed with the development of hypertrophy or atrophy of the tracheal mucosa, which is accompanied by its swelling or, conversely, thinning. At the same time, mucus is intensively removed.
When chronic tracheitis occurs, symptoms common to any form of the disease are also noted - this is a paroxysmal cough, sore throat and chest. If appropriate treatment is not carried out, bronchopneumonia (in elderly patients) or bronchiolitis (inchildren).
Tracheitis in childhood
As a rule, they occur as an independent disease, sometimes as a complication of influenza or SARS. With a disease such as tracheitis, the symptoms in adults and children are similar. Babies have a paroxysmal cough, but it can subside in the morning and at night, as well as during active movement, when the child breathes more often. Inflammation of the trachea is quite often combined with rhinitis, pharyngitis, laryngitis or bronchitis, as well as chronic tonsillitis with a corresponding clinical picture.
When signs of tracheitis develop, appropriate treatment should be immediately prescribed, which should be comprehensive and include measures aimed at eliminating inflammatory changes and raising local immunity.
