Upper Respiratory Tract Infection
What is Upper Respiratory Tract Infection?
Upper respiratory tract infections, or URIs, are some of the common infectious illnesses affecting upper tract of the respiratory system. The upper respiratory tract includes parts like nose, sinuses, larynx and pharynx. Mild illness like common cold to severe one like epiglottis are all part of these types of infections. The trachea, bronchi, and pulmonary alveolar spaces are all supported by the upper respiratory tract.
Basically, the infections are caused due to the affect of virus in the body, but cases of bacterial infusion are also seen, demanding therapeutic treatment to recover from.
Some of the bacterial infections are the cases of superinfection, accumulating viral infection also. The infection spreads in the body by touching mouth and nose by pathogen affecting hands. It can be spread by using some pathogen affected inhaler or by getting in contact to person who is already having this infection. Entering the nose, the pathogen travels to the stomach after facing lot of barriers inside the body like nose hair, and cellular immune system of the body.
Infections are controlled by humoral immunity (immunoglobulin A) and cellular immunity of the body. With that, other barrier in the upper respiratory tract, like normal florae in the nasopharynx, defends entrance of pathogen in the system in company with resident macrophages, monocytes, neutrophils, and eosinophils. Ciliated cells act as transporters that take the pathogen to the pharynx then into the stomach. The infections generally attack those people who have weak humoral and phagocytic immune system. And, these people are more prone of facing severity of these infections.
Immune system of the body is attacked by the serotypes found in pathogens, in the maximum percentage. Pathogens increase production of toxins, capsules obstructing phagocytosis, proteases, and conditions that help in easy entrance of bacterial infections.
Symptoms of Upper Respiratory Tract Infection
Basically, illnesses in upper respiratory tract infections include several symptoms like:
Nasal congestion
Coughing and sneezing
Fever in the body
Running nose
The symptoms are generally indicated with in 1 to 3 days after the onset of pathogens, causing disease. And, in general cases the illness retains for at least 5 to 10 days. It might take more than 10 days to get rid of pathogen completely from the body.
Other than respiratory system, parts like eyes and ears also get affected by these infections. The infections can result into other illnesses like viral conjunctivitis and Otitis media.
Symptoms of viral conjunctivitis include reddening of the eyes with gradual pain in it. Otitis media is indicated through pain and pressure occurring in the ears. With this, systemic illness like influenza is also part of upper respiratory tract infections.
Pharyngitis is caused due to some bacterial infections, in around 15% of the total cases, and is indicated through a series of symptoms like sore throat, running nose and sneezing.
Types of Upper Respiratory Tract Infection
Naming of the illnesses is usuallydone according to the part of upper respiratory tract it is affecting.
Rhinitis: URI occurring in the nasal mucosa causes inflammation of the respiratory tract due to attack by some viral infusions.
Common cold or nasopharyngitis: Very commonly found medical complications caused by the URIs. The symptoms occur as inflammation in upper respiratory tract parts like nares, pharynx, tonsils, hypopharyn, and uvula.
Sinusitis: Also known as Rhinosinusitis, it is a very commonly found illness these days. It generally causes swelling or inflammation on the paranasal and nares sinuses. It can affect from any direction or any parts including frontal ethmoid, maxillary, and sphenoid.
Nasopharyngitis: Again a very commonly found illness, also known as the common cold, causing irritation and swelling in the nares, pharynx, hypopharynx, uvula, and tonsils. It is generally caused by the infection of rhinoviruses and coronaviruses
Laryngitis: When irritation and swelling occur in the larynx part of the upper respiratory tract, then it lead to a infection known as laryngitis.
Laryngotracheitis: Swelling in parts of upper respiratory tract including larynx, trachea, and subglottic area due to some infection indicates the presence of Laryngotracheitis. It is generally caused due to the infection from Bordetella parapertussis
Tracheitis: Irritation, swelling or tenderness of the trachea and subglottic area indicate the symptoms of this disease.
Pharyngitis: Generally, caused due to attack of adenovirus, influenza virus, and Coxsackievirus, the illness occurs in the pharynx, hypopharynx, uvula, and tonsils, as a result of forming inflammation over there.
Epiglottitis: When the superior region of the larynx and supraglottic area faces tenderness, the condition indicates occurrence of epiglottitis. It is caused due to the bacterial infection and the bacteria spreading this illness include group A streptococci, S pneumoniae, and M catarrhalis.
Causes of Upper Respiratory Tract Infection
Most of the cases and types of upper respiratory illnesses are caused due to the attack of viral pathogens like rhinoviruses, coronaviruses, adenoviruses, or coxsackieviruses. Although, some exceptions are still there, based on age and other factors associated with the patient.
Pharyngitis : Occurrence of pharyngitis is distinguished according to the pathogen causing it. It can be differentiated as viral pharyngitis and bacterial pharygnitis:
Viral pharyngitis: As the name suggest, it is caused by some viruses like adenovirus, viruses behind influenza, coxsackievirus, and cytomegalovirus. Some viruses like adenovirus cause similar infections in the body like conjunctivitis.
Bacterial pharyngitis: Caused by bacteria like Group A streptococci, Group C and G streptococci, and N gonorrhoeae, the illness indicates some unusual causes of the URIs.
Epiglottitis: It is caused by the attack of bacteria, named Hib, and affects children more than to adults. Children below five years are the main trap of this disease. Other bacteria that cause this illness include group A streptococci, S pneumoniae, and M catarrhalis.
Laryngotracheitis: It is caused by microbial pathogens like PIV type 1, 2, or 3, adekovirus, enteovirus, gram-negative rod Bordetella pertussis, Group A streptococci, M pneumoniae , and M catarrhalis
Nasopharyngitis: Nasophryngitis is caused due to attack by rhinoviruses, coronaviruses, enteroviruses, and other viruses like adenoviruses and paramyxoviruses. Majority of the cases is from rhinoviruses, whose growing conditions are found to be suitable with the temperature inside the human nares
Diagnosis of Upper Respiratory Tract Infections
Diagnosis of the URIs is done by examining the symptoms of the illness. If a patient is having symptoms like running nose, coughing, sneezing, or mild fever, then it is consider as a URI case. Alternatively, doctors start doing examining for allergic diseases, if the illness retains in the body after giving treatment.
Treatment of Upper Respiratory Tract Infections
Previously, antibiotics were given in high quantity to the patient to recover from the URIs. But, now looking at the adverse effects these antibiotics are causing to the body of the patient, a new concept of ‘delayed antibiotics’ is publicized and advised to the doctors. The concept, delayed antibiotics, means delay in prescribing antibiotics. By looking at the results obtained by prescribing antibiotics early and late stage of the illness, it was found that the results are no different. Hence, it is better to give less and less amount of antibiotics that too very delayed.
Still antibiotics like paracetamol, ibuprofen, or aspirin are recommended by the doctors to control the pain the patient having. Contrary to this, URI patients with chronic lung disease are recommended to take antibiotics in order to reduce the risk of severe lung disease.
Other than this, patients are recommended to:
Take good rest: This will help in reducing fatigue and provide refreshing energy to the patient.
Intake of high amount of liquids: High amount of liquid intake will help in reducing the dehydration caused by fever in the body of a patient.
Intake of high Vitamin C: Research has shown that high intake of vitamin C decreases the risk of having cold and cold related problems.
Late result: Don’t expect quick result from the treatment in the case of URI. The infection generally takes 5 to 10 days to get recover from. Physician sometimes prescribe medicine that make patient drowsy, in order to provide him undisturbed sleep and rest.
