Viral Wheeze

Question 1

What is wheeze?

Answer 1

• high-pitched, whistling sound that occurs when smaller airways are narrowed

Question 2

What are the px causes of wheeze?

*dont list out diseases. list out physiological aspect

Answer 2

• Bronchospasm.
• Swelling of the mucosal lining.
• Excessive amounts of secretions.
• An inhaled foreign body

Question 3

What age group does wheeze typically affect?

Answer 3

• preschool children

Question 4

What are the causes of wheeze?

Answer 4

• Respiratory tract infections.
• Transient wheezing in infancy.
• Asthma.
• Bronchiolitis.
• Croup.
• Cigarette smoke or other forms of air pollution.
• Gastro-oesophageal reflux.
• Foreign body inhalation

Question 5

What are some rarer causes of wheeze?

Answer 5

• tracheo-oesophageal fistula
• bronchopulmonary dysplasia
• bronchiectasis
• cystic fibrosis

Question 6

What are the red flags assoicated with wheeze that needs urgent assessment and tx?

Answer 6

• poor feeding
• cyanosis
• respiratory distress
• drowsiness
• poor response to treatment

Question 7

What are the different types of wheeze presentations?

Answer 7

• Acute onset - infant
• Persistent
• perinatal wheeze - structural abnormalities
• Wheeze + clubbing - congenital heart disease, chronic lung infection
• wheeze + atopy - asthma
• wheeze + nasal polyps - CF

Question 8

What is transient wheezing?

Answer 8

• recurrent wheezing in non-atopic infants or toddlers and tends to disappear by the age of 3 years

Question 9

What is the common cause of transient non atopic wheeze?

How would you tx this?

Answer 9

• respiratory synyctial virus
• Short-term inhaled bronchodilators

Question 10

What are the features of persistent wheeze?

Answer 10

• bstruction from intrathoracic trachea to large bronchioles
• Wheezing recurring for more than four weeks
• recurring cough and response to bronchodilator therapy

Question 11

What is the common cause of persistent wheeze?

Answer 11

• asthma

Question 12

What Ix would you order for wheeze?

Answer 12

• CXR: can demonstrate the presence of a foreign body, structural anomalies, an enlarged heart, masses and pulmonary infiltrates.
• Sweat chloride test for cystic fibrosis.
• Allergy testing.
• Barium swallow for tracheo-oesophageal fistula and other anomalies.
• Spirometry in children aged over 6 years