Author Topic: Chronic Bronchitis and COPD Progression  (Read 100 times)

glennaguilar

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Chronic Bronchitis and COPD Progression
« on: October 01, 2016, 04:15:24 am »
Chronic Bronchitis - COPD Progression
COPD is Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. COPD refers to a group of diseases that include chronic bronchitis, emphysema and asthmatic bronchitis. COPD is a lung disease, mainly caused by smoking. COPD progresses gradually and worsens over time. The rate of progression and severity of symptoms may differ from one individual to another. COPD cannot be cured, though it can be controlled. A common characteristic of these diseases is the difficulty to breathe out of the lungs. Cystic fibrosis, bronchiectesis and genetic forms of emphysema may also cause COPD. Progression of the disease is associated with degradation of elastin in the walls of the alveoli, resulting in the functional destruction of the organs concerned. :)

The United States, 90% of COPD occurs due to smoking. Only about 15% of chronic smokers will go on to develop clinically significant COPD. Once diagnosed with COPD, it is essential to give up smoking. Although cessation of smoking can help to slow the progression of the disease, currently, there is no effective treatment for COPD. Needless to say, COPD is one of the greatest health problems facing America and the world today.

There is a direct causal relationship between COPD and smoking, clearly indicated in COPD progression. In many cases, after 10 years of smoking, a person develops a chronic cough with the production of a small amount of sputum. At the age of 40, there is only shortness of breath during exertion. But by the age of 50, the shortness of breath becomes more common. This is followed by a morning cough related to smoking. These symptoms may not seem serious at first, but they gradually progress to the point where activities of daily living, such as walking, dressing and even eating, cause extreme shortness of breath. Nothing abusive about Chronic Bronchitis Emphysema have been intentionally added here. Whatever it is that we have added, is all informative and productive to you. :o.

Symptoms range from the hardly noticeable to the unbearable. Early symptoms of COPD include daily morning coughs with clear sputum. During a cold or other respiratory infection, the cough may become more noticeable, and the sputum turns yellow or greenish. After a cold or respiratory infection, wheezing may occur. COPD is referred to as the silent disease because symptoms generally progress slowly and almost unnoticeably. At first shortness of breath occurs during exercise. Patients with COPD may experience difficulty in breathing, chronic cough, weight loss and periods of symptoms so severe, they require hospitalization.

Respiratory illnesses have significant effects on the lives of millions of people. When there is a respiratory illness where in the bronchial tubes of the lungs are irritated and swollen accompanied with pain it can be identified as bronchitis. It can be acute, when it is a short term illness and easily treatable. On the other hand, chronic bronchitis is difficult to treat and may cause damage to the respiratory tract.

Clubbed Fingers
Fingers deformity common with chronic respiratory illnesses.    Heart Failure - a complication of chronic bronchitis where in the heart is not able to properly pump blood to the body. Maintaining the value of Bronchitis Heart was the main reason for writing this article. Only in this way will the future know more about Bronchitis Heart.

Malaise - feeling of discomfort when there is acute bronchitis.    Back and muscle pain - soreness of bones in the back and muscle.  Chronic bronchitis is another type of bronchitis, where the airways in lungs have too much phlegm causing violent coughing. Chronic bronchitis is not necessarily caused by infection and is generally part of a syndrome called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; it is defined clinically as a persistent cough that produces sputum (phlegm) and mucus, for at least three months in two consecutive years. Give yourself a momentary pause while reading what there is to read here on Persistent Cough. Use this pause to reflect on what you have so far written on Persistent Cough.

The symptoms of acute bronchitis can also be experienced in chronic bronchitis. However they may be more severe. Chronic bronchitis may show distinct symptoms to be able to differentiate it from acute bronchitis. The information available on Persistent Cough is infinite. There just seems to be so much to learn about, and to write about on Persistent Cough. :o.

  • Dyspnea - difficulty in breathing.
  • Shortness of breath with excessive movement.
  • Too much mucus secretion.
  • Lung or respiratory tract infection.
  • The completion of this article on Chronic Bronchitis was our prerogative since the past one month.
  • However, we completed it within a matter of fifteen days!
Sore Throat
Throat pain and itch.    Repeated headache - a condition where the pain is commonly felt in the head, neck and back.    Slight fever - in acute bronchitis there is an abnormal elevation of bodily temperature. This can be considered to be a valuable article on Bronchitis Heart. It is because there is so much to learn about Bronchitis Heart here.

Quote
Symptoms of bronchitis may resemble symptoms of other respiratory problems which is why it is important to consult your doctor to differentiate it from other conditions and to determine if the bronchitis is acute or chronic. The doctor will assess and conduct physical examinations to evaluate the condition. Furthermore, the doctors may recommend laboratory tests to be able to distinguish the condition. :D.

There are common symptoms of acute bronchitis that you need to be aware of:    Cough - may be dry or may produce phlegm. Significant phlegm production suggests that the lower respiratory tract and the lung itself may be infected, and you may have pneumonia. Using great confidence in ourselves, we endeavored to write such a long article on Symptoms Bronchitis. Such is the amount of matter found on Symptoms Bronchitis.

  • Chills - this condition may be accompanied with quivering and paleness and in some cases it can arise with a sudden increase of temperature.
  • Runny nose - considered as one of the more common irritations of people with acute bronchitis.
  • The sources used for the information for this article on Bronchitis are all dependable ones.
  • This is so that there be no confusion in the authenticity of the article.
Back and Muscle Pain
Soreness of bones in the back and muscle.    Wheezing - a sound that can be heard when a causes and risk factors of acute bronchitis is breathing. It may occur because of the inflammation of the airways. This may leave you short of breath.

  • Cyanosis - a bluish color of the skin due to deoxygenated hemoglobin in the blood.
  • Edema - swelling on the feet and hands due to excessive fluid in the lymph.
The fluoroquinolones are a relatively new group of antibiotics. Fluoroquinolones were first introduced in 1986, but they are really modified quinolones, a class of antibiotics, whose accidental discovery occurred in the early 1960.

Conditions treated with Fluoroquinolones: indications and uses  The newer fluoroquinolones have a wider clinical use and a broader spectrum of antibacterial activity including gram-positive and gram-negative aerobic and anaerobic organisms. Some of the newer fluoroquinolones have an important role in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia and intra-abdominal infections. The serum elimination half-life of the fluoroquinolones range from 3 -20 hours, allowing for once or twice daily dosing. We can proudly say that there is no competition to the meaning of Chronic Bronchitis, when comparing this article with other articles on Chronic Bronchitis found on the net.

Side Effects
The fluoroquinolones as a class are generally well tolerated. Most adverse effects are mild in severity, self-limited, and rarely result in treatment discontinuation. However, they can have serious adverse effects.

Fluoroquinolones Advantages:
Ease of administration Daily or twice daily dosing  Excellent oral absorption Excellent tissue penetration  Prolonged half-lives Significant entry into phagocytic cells Efficacy Overall safety

First Generation
The first-generation agents include cinoxacin and nalidixic acid, which are the oldest and least often used quinolones. These drugs had poor systemic distribution and limited activity and were used primarily for gram-negative urinary tract infections. Cinoxacin and nalidixic acid require more frequent dosing than the newer quinolones, and they are more susceptible to the development of bacterial resistance.

Second-generation agents include ciprofloxacin, enoxacin, lomefloxacin, norfloxacin and ofloxacin. Ciprofloxacin is the most potent fluoroquinolone against P. aeruginosa. Ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin are the most widely used second-generation quinolones because of their availability in oral and intravenous formulations and their broad set of FDA-labeled indications. We do not mean to show some implication that Bronchitis have to rule the world or something like that. We only mean to let you know the actual meaning of Bronchitis!

Third Generation
The third-generation fluoroquinolones are separated into a third class because of their expanded activity against gram-positive organisms, particularly penicillin-sensitive and penicillin-resistant S. pneumoniae, and atypical pathogens such as Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Chlamydia pneumoniae. Although the third-generation agents retain broad gram-negative coverage, they are less active than ciprofloxacin against Pseudomonas species. The facts on Bronchitis mentioned here have a consequential impact on your understanding on Bronchitis. This is because these facts are the basic and important points about Bronchitis.

Classification of Fluoroquinolones
As a group, the fluoroquinolones have excellent in vitro activity against a wide range of both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The newest fluoroquinolones have enhanced activity against gram-positive bacteria with only a minimal decrease in activity against gram-negative bacteria. Their expanded gram-positive activity is especially important because it includes significant activity against Streptococcus pneumoniae. The first impression is the best impression. We have written this article on Chronic Bronchitis in such a way that the first impression you get will definitely make you want to read more about it!

All of the fluoroquinolones are effective in treating urinary tract infections caused by susceptible organisms. They are the first-line treatment of acute uncomplicated cystitis in patients who cannot tolerate sulfonamides or TMP, who live in geographic areas with known resistance > 10% to 20% to TMP-SMX, or who have risk factors for such resistance.

Fourth Generation
The fourth-generation fluoroquinolones add significant antimicrobial activity against anaerobes while maintaining the gram-positive and gram-negative activity of the third-generation drugs. They also retain activity against Pseudomonas species comparable to that of ciprofloxacin. The fourth-generation fluoroquinolones include trovafloxacin (Trovan). Producing such an interesting anecdote on Chronic Bronchitis took a lot of time and hard work. So it would be enhancing to us to learn that you have made good use of this hard work! :)

Second Generation
The second-generation fluoroquinolones have increased gram-negative activity, as well as some gram-positive and atypical pathogen coverage. Compared with first-generation quinolones, these drugs have broader clinical applications in the treatment of complicated urinary tract infections and pyelonephritis, sexually transmitted diseases, selected pneumonias and skin infections.

The fluoroquinolones are a family of synthetic, broad-spectrum antibacterial agents with bactericidal activity. The parent of the group is nalidixic acid, discovered in 1962 by Lescher and colleagues. The first fluoroquinolones were widely used because they were the only orally administered agents available for the treatment of serious infections caused by gram-negative organisms, including Pseudomonas species.

Because of concern about hepatotoxicity, trovafloxacin therapy should be reserved for life- or limb-threatening infections requiring inpatient treatment (hospital or long-term care facility), and the drug should be taken for no longer than 14 days. We have included the history of Bronchitis here so that you will learn more about its history. It is only through it's history can you learn more about Bronchitis.

Because of their expanded antimicrobial spectrum, third-generation fluoroquinolones are useful in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia, acute sinusitis and acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis, which are their primary FDA-labeled indications. The third-generation fluoroquinolones include levofloxacin, gatifloxacin, moxifloxacin and sparfloxacin. Don't be surprised if you find anything unusual here about Chronic Bronchitis. There has been some interesting and unusual things here worth reading.

Urinary tract infections (norfloxacin, lomefloxacin, enoxacin, ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, gatifloxacin, trovafloxacin) Lower respiratory tract infections (lomefloxacin, ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, trovafloxacin) Skin and skin-structure infections (ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, trovafloxacin) Urethral and cervical gonococcal infections (norfloxacin, enoxacin, ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, gatifloxacin, trovafloxacin) Prostatitis (norfloxacin, ofloxacin, trovafloxacin) Acute sinusitis (ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, gatifloxacin, moxifloxacin (Avelox), trovafloxacin) Acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis (levofloxacin, sparfloxacin (Zagam), gatifloxacin, moxifloxacin, trovafloxacin) Community-acquired pneumonia (levofloxacin, sparfloxacin, gatifloxacin, moxifloxacin, trovafloxacin) :o.

Fluoroquinolones Disadvantages:
Tendonitis or tendon rupture  Multiple drug interactions Not used in children Newer quinolones produce additional toxicities to the heart that were not found with the older agents Having a penchant for Chronic Bronchitis led us to write all that there has been written on Chronic Bronchitis here. Hope you too develop a penchant for Chronic Bronchitis!

The newer fluoroquinolones have a wider clinical use and a broader spectrum of antibacterial activity including gram-positive and gram-negative aerobic and anaerobic organisms. Some of the newer fluoroquinolones have an important role in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia and intra-abdominal infections. There has been an uncalculatable amount of information added in this composition on Bronchitis. Don't try counting it! :o.

Fluoroquinolones are approved for use only in people older than 18. They can affect the growth of bones, teeth, and cartilage in a child or fetus. The FDA has assigned fluoroquinolones to pregnancy risk category C, indicating that these drugs have the potential to cause teratogenic or embryocidal effects. Giving fluoroquinolones during pregnancy is not recommended unless the benefits justify the potential risks to the fetus. These agents are also excreted in breast milk and should be avoided during breast-feeding if at all possible.

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