Even doctors can have a hard time telling the difference between bronchitis and pneumonia. While the two conditions do share many of the same symptoms, and bronchitis can lead to pneumonia if untreated, pneumonia is generally considered to be a much more dangerous condition, especially in the elderly and those with compromised immune systems.

Technicalities

Both bronchitis and pneumonia are caused by viral, bacterial, and fungal infections of the respiratory system, but they are differentiated by the location of the infected area. Bronchitis is the inflammation or irritation of the bronchi, or the air tubes that lead from the trachea to the lungs. Pneumonia is the inflammation or irritation, usually due to an infection, of the lung tissue itself.

Symptoms

Bronchitis usually begins with a dry cough while the cough associated with pneumonia normally produces mucus, sometimes yellow, green, or even tinged with blood, from the start. After a couple of days, coughs caused by bronchitis can also produce yellow and green mucus. If fever is present with a bronchial infection, it is usually mild, but pneumonia can produce fevers in excess of 101º F. Pneumonia can also cause rapid heartbeat, an increase in the rate of respiration, and the chills. The symptoms of bronchitis usually disappear within two to three weeks, even without any medical intervention, while pneumonia can last for months.

Diagnosis

Doctors usually diagnose bronchitis simply by listening to your symptoms and then listening to your breathing with a stethoscope. They can test any sputum you produce to ascertain whether the bronchitis is caused by a viral, bacterial, or fungal infection. They may give you an x-ray to rule out pneumonia. If you have bronchitis, your chest x-ray will appear normal, while a radiologist will be able to see evidence of pneumonia on an x-ray.

Treatment

There is no curative treatment for either viral bronchitis or viral pneumonia. The symptoms can be treated to give the patient comfort and prevent further inflammation of the bronchi or lungs, but the infection has to run its course. Because the lungs take much longer to health than the bronchi, the symptoms of pneumonia can last much longer. Both bacterial bronchitis and bacterial pneumonia can be treated with antibiotics, and fungal bronchitis and fungal pneumonia can be treated with anti-fungals.