Akute Bronchitis

Acute bronchitis is one of the most frequent diagnoses made by family doctors and occurs in circa 5% of adults per year, cumulating during winter and autumn. Diagnosis is made purely clinically. Predominant symptoms are cough, fever, headache and pain in the limbs as well as general malaise. It can be concluded that the underlying cause is usually a viral infection. Antibiotic therapy as a routine treatment is currently not recommended as it shortens the course of the disease only marginally. Treatment is purely symptomatical, with no evidence of the usefulness of mycolytic or antitussive agents. Patients who suffer from obstruction may benefit from beta-mimetics. If symptoms last longer than three weeks, other diseases should be taken into consideration. The main differential diagnosis is pneumonia. It should be taken into account that patients show an increased prevalence for developing chronic bronchitis or bronchial asthma.