My 5 1/2 month old with reflux was just diagnosed with bronchiolitis (sp?), he was wheezing after a long, drawn-out virus & ear infection and throwing up mucus after coughing. He is now on the nebulizer with Albuterol every 4 hours.

I know they don't usually try to diagnose asthma this early, but have any of you found that after a diagnosis of bronchiolitis your child or children developed asthma?

My poor little guy has been through so much. We can't even thicken his feeds right now because he'll just throw up after (too thick with the mucus). Luckily, he's been keeping it down well. I just want a healthy baby!

Thanks!

Having bronchiolitis doesn't mean they will get asthma, or even have any permenent breathing issues at all. It is usually a complication that follows RSV, and causes the child to have "reactive airway" and they are ussually over it completly after about 6 months. Rarely children do have to be admitted into the hospital with it. My son was one of them, only because of the severity of his other problems. He has laryngo-tracheomalacia and severe GERD a little cold put him in the hospital until he was about 6 months old.
From a respiratory therapist stand point, I have read studies where they have tried to put a link between asthma and bronchiolitis. I have 2 children who have had rsv, bronchiolits and reactive airway following and they do not have asthma. I think it depends on the severity of the illness, and how its treated.
Carson was on singular, pulmicort, and xopenex for 4 months. Wyatt was on pulmicort and xopenex for about 2 months. Carson saw a pulmonologist for his health problems, and later the post rsv complications, and he is just fine, (hasnt' seen the lung specialist since march of last year). Wyatt was only treated by the local ped doc and did fine. (wyatt is a normal healthy child with no reflux).
I do know there is a strong link between asthma and reflux.
The studies are saying that up to 90 some percent of asthma suffers have reflux.

Eliana had bronchiolitis diagnosed May 14, 2006. After that she had several sinus infections and 2 ear infections. Nov 10, 2006 she was diagnosed with asthma.

Bronchiolitis

Introduction:
Worried parents stand over the crib, listening to their baby cough (http://www.drgreene.com/21_512.html) and struggle to breathe. He may have bronchiolitis. Most parents have heard of pneumonia (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1159.html) or bronchitis, but what does bronchiolitis mean?

What is it?
Bronchitis is inflammation of the large airways in the chest and pneumonia is inflammation of the lung. Bronchiolitis is inflammation of the smaller airways connecting the two.

Bronchiolitis is usually a viral (http://www.drgreene.com/21_527.html) infection. RSV (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1175.html) is responsible for the illness in most children. Adenovirus (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1020.html), parainfluenza (croup (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1010.html)), and other viruses can also cause bronchiolitis.

In adults and older children, RSV usually appears as a bad cold. However, in babies (http://www.drgreene.com/54_5.html) and toddlers (http://www.drgreene.com/54_6.html) whose bronchioles are smaller and easier to plug, these viruses often cause bronchiolitis when inhaled.

Who gets it?
Bronchiolitis is primarily a disease of young children before their second birthdays. The most common age for bronchiolitis is about 6 months.

Winter and early spring are bronchiolitis season. Children in day care (http://www.drgreene.com/21_226.html) are usually much more likely to get bronchiolitis. Kids who are exposed to cigarette smoke (http://www.drgreene.com/21_769.html) are at even higher risk. Babies who attend day care are less likely to get bronchiolitis than those who stay home with a parent who smokes.

Boys are more often affected, as are formula-fed (http://www.drgreene.com/21_797.html) infants. Those at high risk for asthma (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1031.html) also appear to be prone to bronchiolitis.

Most kids who get bronchiolitis have been exposed to an adult or another child with a cold (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1053.html) in the previous week.

What are the symptoms?
Bronchiolitis usually begins with cold symptoms such as a runny nose, sneezing, and perhaps a mild cough. The appetite is often decreased. The child may have a fever (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1011.html) or might be a bit cooler than normal.

After a day or two, breathing becomes faster and the cough becomes more severe. It may be a deep or wheezy cough. The child may develop wheezing (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1221.html) and respiratory distress.

Breathing difficulties can make it hard for babies to feed.
Is it contagious?
Bronchiolitis is very contagious. It spreads most commonly by contact transmission (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1060.html), droplet transmission (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1073.html), and fomites (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1092.html).

How long does it last?
Mild bronchiolitis may last only for a day or so. Often the disease lasts 5 to 12 days. The first 3 days are the most critical.

How is it diagnosed?
Diagnosis is often based on the history and physical exam. A chest x-ray can give additional information, as can a pulsoximeter to measure oxygen levels. A specific swab for RSV might be done to identify the cause of bronchiolitis.

How is it treated?
There are no specific medicines for treating bronchiolitis at home. It is important to give plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration. Also, a humidifier or saline nose drops might be recommended to thin the mucus.

Some children need supplemental oxygen or even mechanical help to breathe. A powerful aerosol treatment specifically against RSV is sometimes used for hospitalized children.

Steroids and antibiotics are not usually helpful.

How can it be prevented?
If possible, protect your baby from exposure to sick individuals during the peak bronchiolitis season. In addition, good hand washing (http://www.drgreene.com/21_67.html), particularly just before anyone handles susceptible infants, can decrease spread. Don’t forget to use a tissue when you cough or sneeze.

Two products are now available to prevent RSV infection in children at high risk for serious disease. RSV-IGIV (RespiGam) and palivizumab (Synagis) have been approved for high-risk children.

Related A-to-Z Information:
Adenovirus (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1020.html), Asthma (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1031.html), Common Cold (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1053.html), Contact Transmission (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1060.html), Cough (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1615.html), Croup (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1063.html), Cystic Fibrosis (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1064.html), Dehydration (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1066.html), Droplet Transmission (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1073.html), Fomites (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1092.html), Pneumonia (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1159.html), Respiratory Distress (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1168.html), RSV (Respiratory syncytial virus (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1175.html), Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1187.html), Wheezing (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1221.html)

Forgot to highlight this part of the article
Those at high risk for asthma (http://www.drgreene.com/21_1031.html) also appear to be prone to bronchiolitis.

To truley diagnose asthma pulmonary function tests are the gold standard. We look for airway resistance, airway compliance. TO diagnose asthma you have to do a pre and post bronchodialator (albuterol, xopenex) pft. If there is a 15 percent improvement then a diagnosis of asthma is in order.
There is no set "cause" of asthma, there are 2 types of asthma. Intrensic and extrensic asthma. Intrinsic means exercise induced asthma. Extrensic Asthma which is caused by enviromental factors, allergies, smoke, etc.
"asthma" in infants cannot be diagnosed. So they call an asthma like condition reactive airway. Reacitve airway behaves just like asthma, and is treated with the same medicines, most children grow out of it.
Physiologicly the airways are so much smaller and a little constriction can cause a world of problems and send them running to the er fast. Childhood reactive airway (called asthma years ago) usually like GERD is outgrown.
Bronchiolitis infections end up almost always as reactive airway.

Hi Kim,

I have often wondered about this myself. My son got bronchiolities at 4 months and had to be in hospital for about a week because he was having difficulty breathing. It was terrible.
He was around his 1 1/2 year old cousin a few days before and she had it, but of course was not as bad as him and didn't need to go to hosp, so thats how we got it.

I have been told by my GI that there is a link to children who have previously had bronchiolities to developing asthma later on, and they are not sure whether the children more prone to developing bronciolitis are more likely to be prone to developing asthma, or whether the bronchiolitis does some sort of damage to the airways and therefore they are more likely to develop asthma later on.

I was devastated when i heard this, as I don't think i can handle asthma as well as all of out other probs. To me asthma is a very scary thing.