Bronchitis

What is Bronchitis?

Bronchitis is the inflammation of the bronchi, or the airways of the lungs. There are 2 types of bronchitis, acute and chronic. Acute bronchitis is called "chest cold" as well. The infection lasts for up to 10 days, however, the cold can last up to 3 weeks, and symptoms can last for 6 weeks. Chronic bronchitis is a cough that produces mucus for up to more than 3 months in a year. With chronic bronchitis and decreased airflow, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can easily happen. Bronchitis is not bronchiolitis. Bronchitis affects the big airways, the bronchi, while bronchiolitis affects the bronchioles, which are smaller airways in the lungs.




Causes of Acute Bronchitis:
- Viral infection (90% chance) (can be caused by the flu/cold causing viruses)
- Smoking
- Fumes
- Dust in air
- Pollution in air

Causes of Chronic Bronchitis:
- repeated causes of acute bronchitis
- mostly smoking or pollution

Symptoms:
- Coughing
- Mucus
- Tiredness
- Shortness of Breath
- Fever
- Discomfort in the chest/lungs

Diagnosis needed:
- Chest X-Ray
- CT/computed tomography scan
- Measuring air your lungs can hold (Pulmonary function tests)


Treating acute bronchitis:
- Drink more warm fluids (except caffeine or alcohol)
- Rest/Sleep more
- Painkillers (Eg. Ibuprofen) to reduce inflammation and relieve pain
- The body will take care of it

Treating chronic bronchitis:
- Steroids (anti-inflammations)
- Meds
- Antibiotics
- Vaccines to prevent secondary infections
- Bronchodilators (airway opening)
- Oxygen therapy (severe)
- Surgery (severe)
- Exercise



Prevention:
- DON'T SMOKE
- Exercise more
- Vaccinate
- Stay away from sick people and avoid touching your face
- Stay away from polluted air or dust as much as possible
- Wear a dust mask in heavily polluted areas

Escherichia Coli

What is it?
Escherichia Coli, or E. Coli is a bacteria that usually lives in your intestines. Most of them are good and necessary for humans or even animals, however, some are really harmful. There are over 200 strains of e. coli that is harmful, and one of the worst ones is the O157:H7. It is responsible for 31 deaths per year, 9600 hospitalizations and 32000 sicknesses per year! Harmful E Coli put in a Shiga toxin, which is responsible for the sickness. This Shiga toxin stimulates your intestines, causing you to produce more fluids and have diarrhoea.

How do you contract harmful E. Coli.
You can contract from humans, animals or from food, and most serious outbreaks are usually from ground beef, spinach or lettuce. In 1993, Jack in the Box's outbreak caused 3 children to die and 500+ to fall ill. In September 2006, over 275 cases and 3 deaths was reported in USA due to E. Coli found in spinach from a cattle ranch in Salinas Valley, and in 2018-19, 167 illnesses and 85 hospitalizations were reported due to E. Coli found in Romaine Lettuce also in Salinas Valley.

Symptoms:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Mild-Severe Diarrhoea
- Bloody diarrhoea especially if severe
- Loss of appetite
- Fever
- Anaemia
- Fatigue
- Seizures
- DEATH

Treatments:
For mild cases of E. Coli, medications are not necessarily needed. Just remember to drink more low-sugar fluids and rest more for the body to heal itself.

Coronavirus

What is a coronavirus?
A coronavirus is a virus that belongs to the virus group coronavirdae. They are named coronavirus, because of their appearance looks like a crown from the microscope, and the word crown or halo in latin is "corona", so coronavirus is a virus shaped like a crown. Common colds can be caused by the common versions of coronavirus OC43 and 229E, however, "SARS (SARS-CoV)", "MERS (MERS-CoV)" or the Novel Coronavirus found in WuHan in 2019 (Covid-19) was caused by a coronavirus  too, just a rarer type.

How it happens:
Coronaviruses transmits through sneezing and coughing, and the virus can stay in the air for about 10 minutes. It can also be transmitted by body fluids, such as saliva or mucus. For example, if a person infected sneezes into their hands, and without washing it, shakes your hand and you touch your eyes, nose or mouth, you may get infected with the coronavirus. If these viruses land on your tissue, they die in about 15 minutes, but it can live up to 24 hours in other conditions. When in a body, the virus will attack your cells and take over it and making it a virus replicating machine by its RNA. When the enough viruses are made, the cell bursts open and dies, and millions of viruses bursts out and the process repeats. Soon, your body feels this and responds with an immune response which causes symptoms, such as coughing or fever. The body also sends out antibodies to try to fight the virus and in severe cases, white blood cells may even send out chemicals, which can cause leakage of fluids into the lungs and added to the cellular destruction of the cell, can cause death by suffocation. Other than that, since your immune system is weakened, bacteria you can usually can fight off easily can kill you, because your protection is weakened or even compromised by the virus.

Symptoms:
- runny nose
- light headed
- headache
- fever- coughing
- sneezing
- sore throat
-pneumonia
-bronchitis

Diagnosis needed:
-Blood sample
-Travel history
-Bodily fluids

Treatment:
None! Did you know you cannot treat a common cold? Thats why there is no cure for the Covid-19 too! The strong ones with strong immune systems can fight off colds or even the Covid-19. The weak ones would die to it. That's why thousands of people die per day and it is important to get a vaccine to prevent getting the virus. If you got a common cold, just let your body do the work and take some rests.

Prevention:
- Vaccine
- Avoid touching your face with hands
- Wash your hands oftenly
- Don't be around sick ones

- Social Distance

- Wear a mask