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Infant Having Severe Cough With Breathing Difficulty. Is This Bronchial Cough?

Posted on Thu, 28 Jun 2012

Question: infant cough my 6 month old has been coughing for several weeks now her ped. says its nothing to worry about but its a XXXXXXX bronchial cough and some have said they think she has asthma she coughs to the point she cant breathe and is choking for air what could it be and what could cause it?

Answered by Dr. Gyanshankar Mishra (11 hours later)

Hi,

Thanks for posting the query.

After going through your query, I would like to comment the following:

1. Your child seems to be suffering from severe cough at present.

2. Differentiating childhood asthma from viral bronchitis and bronchiolitis can be difficult at times. Normally if the symptoms persist after 2 years of age then it is more in favour of asthma.

3. If she is getting breathlessness along with cough and "whistling sounds" are heard some times then she may be started on inhaled bronchodilator therapy via a metered dose inhaler with spacer with baby mask. But this should be done under consultation with your pediatrician.

4. I also suggest you to get serum IgE (immunoglobin E) levels.

5. It also might be useful to get Xray of the chest/lungs done. Is there a history of foreign body aspiration? This should always be ruled out in children.

I hope I have answered your query. I will be glad to answer any follow up queries.

Please accept my answer if you have no follow up queries.

Regards

Dr. Gyanshankar Mishra
MBBS MD DNB

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad