Duration of viral bronchitis

With adequate rest and bed rest, the duration of a simple viral bronchitis is limited. A rule of thumb says that the viral infection comes three days, stays three days and leaves three days. Within these nine days, a conventional infection should be overcome.

Minimal rhinitis and coughing, as well as a weakness after the illness, can still persist in the days after. The exact duration of the illness depends on the respective pathogen and state of the immune system. Seasonal influenza in the context of viral bronchitis can be more persistent. If the course of the disease is particularly long, a bacterial secondary infection (superinfection) must also be considered.

Treatment of viral bronchitis

Pure viral bronchitis rarely requires drug treatment. The primary therapy is based on physical protection and support of the immune system. In addition to bed rest, abstention from work and sports, soothing symptomatic therapies such as vitamin intake or inhalation can also be carried out.The cough serves to get rid of the pathogens and should therefore not be suppressed with medication.

However, drinking water and tea can help to loosen the mucus and make coughing up easier. If the cough is unbearable and painful, a doctor can also prescribe medication for symptomatic therapy. In bacterial bronchitis, antibiotic therapy is very important compared to viral bronchitis. A bacterial bronchitis is characterized by a more severe course of the disease. If you therefore have or could have bacterial bronchitis, we recommend our page on: Which antibiotics help in bronchitis?

This is how viral bronchitis is triggered

Viral bronchitis is caused by an inflammation of the mucous membranes. It is basically comparable to an inflammation of the nasal mucous membranes or the throat and develops in the same way. The viruses are transmitted via the so-called “droplet infection“.

Tiny droplets with high numbers of pathogens reach the mucous membranes of the other person from an already ill person. Transmission can occur over short distances through the air, by shaking hands, kissing and other mucous membrane contacts. Sneezing and coughing spread the viruses particularly quickly and widely in the air and can infect people several meters away.

In addition to the transmission of the pathogen, other factors of an infection must be taken into account. The body’s own immune system can fight the majority of viruses and prevent inflammation. Particularly aggressive viruses, high pathogen loads or weaknesses in the immune system therefore favour viral bronchitis.

The cold in winter affects the immune system in particular, which is why colds and bronchitis can occur more frequently. A viral bronchitis is in principle contagious. The hands are the most important source of infection.

During one’s own illness or during the flu season, special attention must be paid to hand hygiene. Sneezing and coughing as well as mucous membrane contact, e.g. kissing, are also potential sources of infection. For your own protection and for the protection of your surroundings, sneezing, your own handkerchiefs and other excretion products should be handled with care to prevent spreading.

Regular hand washing and hand disinfection in public facilities are the most important measures in the prevention of infectious diseases. The degree of one’s own infectiousness is related to the severity of the symptoms. The potential for infection is greatest at the time when the cold symptoms are at their strongest.

Since bronchitis is almost always caused by viruses, at 90%, it is often referred to as viral bronchitis. The most common pathogens are influenza viruses, which trigger a typical flu, but also so-called parainfluenza viruses, rhino or adenoviruses. Much rarer is the bronchitis caused by bacteria and very rarely by fungi.

Most of the time, those affected by non-viral bronchitis are patients with a poor immune system and a weak immune system. If viral bronchitis is present, however, a further infection with bacteria or fungi may occur during the course of the disease. Then one speaks also of a superinfection.