• Allergies, Asthma, and Lung
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• Lung Health

Bronchitis Or Pneumonia: What’s the Difference?

Your cough won’t go away, and you feel miserable. Do you have bronchitis? Is it pneumonia? How can you tell?

Bronchitis is an inflammation of the bronchial tree, which is a tree-looking series of tubes that carry air into your lungs. These tubes swell and fill with mucus when they are infected, which makes it hard to breathe.

Bronchitis is usually caused by a virus, but it can also be caused by bacteria. 

If you have bronchitis, your symptoms could include a cough that brings up mucus, wheezing, chest pain, shortness of breath, and a low fever.

Pneumonia is an infection that can settle in one or both of your lungs. Though pneumonia can be caused by bacteria, viruses, and fungi, bacteria is the most common cause.

Pneumonia causes the air sacs in your lungs to fill with fluid. Symptoms that go along with the sickness include cough, fever, chills, and trouble breathing.

Bacterial pneumonia can make you very sick very fast, so it’s important to get medical help quickly and be treated with antibiotics. However, about one-third of the cases of pneumonia in the U.S. each year are caused by viruses, says the American Lung Association. Viral pneumonia cannot be treated with antibiotics.

Because the symptoms of pneumonia and bronchitis overlap – with cough, fever, and sometimes difficulty breathing – they can be difficult to tell apart.

Fortunately, a chest X-ray can show a visible difference between the illnesses, helping your health care provider diagnose your condition and treat it appropriately. 

Source: American Academy of Family Physicians; American Lung Association; National Institutes of Health