A. Rhonchi sounds have a continuous snoring, gurgling, or rattle-like quality. Rhonchi occur in the bronchi as air moves through tracheal-bronchial passages coated with mucus or respiratory secretions. This is often heard in the upper lung field in the presence of pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, or cystic fibrosis.
Bacterial pneumonia is more serious and often results in a gurgling sound when breathing and mucus or phlegm when coughing. If you are experiencing a cough and are concerned that it may be pneumonia, reach out to your doctor.
Signs and symptoms of a chest infection
coughing up yellow or green phlegm (thick mucus), or coughing up blood. breathlessness or rapid and shallow breathing. wheezing. a high temperature (fever)
If you have pneumonia, your lungs may make crackling, bubbling, and rumbling sounds when you inhale.
What Is a Bronchitis Cough Like? A bronchitis cough sounds like a rattle with a wheezing or whistling sound. As your condition progresses, you will first have a dry cough that can then progress towards coughing up white mucus.
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.
These four stages of pneumonia are congestion, red hepatization, gray hepatization, and resolution, respectively.
See a GP if you have a chest infection and:
you feel very unwell or your symptoms get worse. you cough up blood or blood-stained mucus. you've had a cough for more than 3 weeks.
Chest infections are common, especially after a cold or flu during autumn and winter. Although most are mild and get better on their own, some can be serious or even life-threatening.
Small amounts of white mucus may be coughed up if the bronchitis is viral. If the color of the mucus changes to green or yellow, it may be a sign that a bacterial infection has also set in. The cough is usually the last symptom to clear up and may last for weeks.
"With a viral cough, you often have a fever which tends to go up and down," explains Coffey. "With a bacterial infection, such as pneumonia, you tend to have a consistently high fever - usually around 38-40°C." If your fever remains persistently high, it's worth giving your GP a call.
Treatment. Acute bronchitis usually gets better on its own—without antibiotics. Antibiotics won't help you get better if you have acute bronchitis. When antibiotics aren't needed, they won't help you, and their side effects could still cause harm.
Most people DO NOT need antibiotics for acute bronchitis caused by a virus. The infection will almost always go away on its own within 1 week. Doing these things may help you feel better: Drink plenty of fluids.
Two red-flag signs of pneumonia in older adults are confusion and/or delirium, as well as a lower than normal body temperature. Other signs, which can sometimes be confused with cold and flu, include: Chest pain during breathing or coughing. Feeling tired or weak.
Shortness of breath or fast, shallow breathing. Bluish tint to lips and/or fingertips. High fever, sweating, shaking chills. Sharp or stabbing chest pain that gets worse when you inhale deeply or cough.
A classic sign of bacterial pneumonia is a cough that produces thick, blood-tinged or yellowish-greenish sputum with pus. Pneumonia is an infection that inflames the air sacs in one or both lungs.
Bronchitis is when the airways in your lungs, your bronchi, become inflamed. This irritation can cause severe coughing spells that bring up mucus, wheezing, chest pain and shortness of breath.
Crackles occur as a result of small airways suddenly snapping open. They may indicate that a person's lungs have fluid inside them or are not inflating correctly. Causes of crackling include: pneumonia.