bronchiolitis

Also known as Wheezy Bronchitis

Key facts

Medical condition.name: Bronchiolitis
Medical condition.image: File:Bronchiolitis Medical Image.png
Medical condition.caption: Depiction of the location of bronchiolitis in the lungs and viral shedding.
Medical condition.field: Emergency medicine, pediatrics
Medical condition.symptoms: Fever, cough, runny nose, wheezing, breathing problems
Medical condition.complications: Shortness of breath, dehydration
Medical condition.onset: Less than 2 years old
Medical condition.causes: Viral disease (respiratory syncytial virus, human rhinovirus)
Medical condition.diagnosis: Based on symptoms
Medical condition.differential: Asthma, pneumonia, heart failure, allergic reaction, cystic fibrosis
Medical condition.treatment: Symptomatic treatment (oxygen, support with feeding, intravenous fluids)
Medical condition.frequency: ~20% (children less than 2)
Medical condition.deaths: 1% (among those hospitalized)

via Wikipedia infobox

Research

17,424 papers

Bronchiolitis.Lancet (London, England) · 2022
Viral Bronchiolitis in Children.The New England journal of medicine · 2016
Bronchiolitis.Pediatrics in review · 2019
Postinfectious Bronchiolitis Obliterans in Children.Canadian respiratory journal · 2025
Post-infectious bronchiolitis obliterans in children.Paediatric respiratory reviews · 2022

via PubMed

Wikidata facts

Image: Acute bronchiolitis (8519105494).jpg

Show 5 more facts

Commons category: Bronchiolitis
NCI Thesaurus ID: C39658
ICPC 2 ID: R78
exact match: purl.obolibrary.org/obo/SYMP_0000232
ICD-9-CM: 466.19

Sources (3)

via Wikidata · CC0

~22 min read

Article

24 sections

Contents

Signs and symptoms
Causes
Risk factors
Diagnosis
Differential diagnosis
Prevention
Management
Outpatient Management
Nutrition
Breathing/ Oxygen
Nasal Suction
Inpatient/ Hospital Management
Nutrition/ Fluid Therapy
Oxygen
Contradicting Evidence
Hypertonic saline
Bronchodilators
Epinephrine
Non-effective Treatments
Experimental Trials
Epidemiology
COVID-19 Pandemic
References
External links

Bronchiolitis is inflammation of the small airways also known as the bronchioles in the lungs. Acute bronchiolitis is caused by a viral infection, usually affecting children younger than two years of age. Symptoms may include fever, cough, runny nose or rhinorrhea, and wheezing. More severe cases may be associated with nasal flaring, grunting, or respiratory distress. If the child has not been able to feed properly due to the illness, signs of dehydration may be present.

Chronic bronchiolitis is more common in adults and has various causes, one of which is bronchiolitis obliterans. Often when people refer to bronchiolitis, they are referring to acute bronchiolitis in children.