Bronchitis vs. Pneumonia Here's How to Tell the Difference - Article Health

Bronchitis and pneumonia are both infections that affect your airways. They can have similar symptoms that often blur into each other.

“There’s not a bright line between bronchitis and pneumonia,” says William Schaffner, MD, an infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

But there are differences. For starters, there’s location. Pneumonia affects the air sacs in the lungs, while bronchitis affects the bronchial tubes, which act as a sort of tunnel to get air into and out of the lungs.

Most cases of bronchitis are caused by viruses, often the same viruses that are responsible for common colds and the flu. In fact, bronchitis is sometimes even called a “chest cold.”

“The same virus that causes the common cold settles lower down and causes bronchitis” in some people, explains Ephraim L. Tsalik, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at Duke Health in Durham, North Carolina.

These viruses also spread like the cold. “People get bronchitis exactly the same way they would get any cold, since it’s almost always viral,” says Dr. Tsalik. “It can be from someone else who’s had an infection, and that person doesn’t have to have had bronchitis.”

The most prominent symptom of bronchitis is a cough, often a cough that occurs in spells, says Dr. Schaffner. You may also cough up mucus (usually clear or light colored), have a low fever, feel tired, and be short of breath. The bronchitis infection itself usually lasts a week to 10 days, but don’t be surprised if the cough outlasts it.

Because bronchitis is almost always viral, antibiotic treatments aren’t effective. You may be able to relieve some symptoms with over-the-counter mucus-loosening drugs or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen. A humidifier in your room or a couple of teaspoons of honey in tea or warm water may soothe the coughing as well.

Unlike bronchitis, pneumonia has long been thought to be caused predominantly by bacteria (although viruses and fungi can also cause pneumonia). “The infection gets beyond the confines of the bronchial tubes and actually gets into the substance of the lung,” explains Dr. Schaffner. “Then it causes inflammation in the tissues of the lung.”

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