What are respiratory diseases?

What are respiratory diseases?

Respiratory diseases cover a wide group of diseases that affect the airways, which run from the mouth, down the throat to the windpipe and further through little arborisations in the lungs, where they end in small air-filled pouches or ‘bursas’ called ‘alveoli’. This is where the oxygen is transferred to the blood, while the carbon dioxide from the blood is absorbed into the air and exhaled. Diseases in the airways can be classified according to whether they are restrictive, obstructive, infective or malignant diseases.   

Which respiratory diseases exist and what causes them?

• Restrictive respiratory diseases are diseases that affect the lungs’ ability to expand during inhalation. An incomplete expansion of the lungs and increased stiffness of the lung tissue will make you unable to inhale the sufficient amount of fresh air. A restrictive respiratory disease could be ‘atelectasis’ or ‘pulmonary fibrosis’, which can be caused by specific infections or air pollution i.e. asbestos.
• Obstructive respiratory diseases are where the airways are narrowed. The exhalation itself is what is most affected by the narrowed air ways so that the person has difficulties exhaling the same amount of air as was initially inhaled. This means that the air in the alveoli is not replaced adequately, and thus the person often has difficulty breathing, where it can be a struggle to breath even in a state of relaxation. Obstructive respiratory diseases cover KOL, asthma and emphysema, among others.
• Inflammation in the airways is usually caused by an infection in the lounges. Frequently, it is due to pneumonia, caused by pneumococcus or a flu virus. Here, it is common to see an increased slime production, coughing and difficulty breathing, which are symptoms that resemble those of the obstructive respiratory diseases. Moreover, people often experience fever, fatigue and a general feeling of discomfort. There are several other forms of respiratory infections, herein tuberculosis and the common cold.
• Malignant respiratory diseases are malignant tumours that form in the lung tissue. Lung cancer is rarely diagnosed in the early stages of its development, which means it has usually spread to different tissue or other organs in the body before it is discovered, and this makes it more difficult to treat. Lung cancer is strongly associated with tobacco smoking. Lung cancer can be classified into different types where some are more lethal than others. It is especially small-cell lung cancer (SLLC) that is dangerous, and the survival rate for this type of lung cancer is very small.
• Allergies causes bronchial asthma in 70 percent of the cases. Most commonly, hay fever leads to the chronic disease. However, it may also be caused by pollen, fur or fungus.

What are the symptoms of respiratory diseases?

Respiratory diseases can present themselves differently and are often associated with the localisation of the disease. This means that the symptoms are often unspecific and can occur differently from individual to individual. However, the most common symptoms are as follows:

• Coughing

• Coughing of slime or blood

• Shortness of breath

• Respiratory difficulties

• Chest pain

• Irregular breathing

• Sort throat

• Hoarseness

The symptoms might be accompanied by fever, malaise, chills and loss of appetite.

How can respiratory disease be treated?

Treatment of respiratory diseases depends on the cause of the disease. Acute respiratory diseases, such as pneumonia or a throat infection can be treated with fever lowering and analgesic medicine. Coughing can be eased with mucolytic and cough relieving medicine. In more serious cases concerning infections with bacteria, additional medicine such as antibiotics can be used as treatment.

Chronic respiratory diseases, such as asthma and COPD, can be treated with either short or long term effective bronchodilators (means that expand the bronchus). Additionally, anti inflammatory medicine (Montelukast or Singulair), which can help moderate the body’s excessive reaction to a stimulus.

Malign respiratory diseases are treated, as many other diseases, depending on the type of the disease. In 20 percent of the cases, non-small-cell lung cancer can be treated surgical, after which chemotherapy will be offered in order to reduce the risk of recurrence. Often surgery is not possible in cases of small cell lung cancer because of the risk of the disease spreading to other organs. Therefore, the disease is often treated with chemotherapy and radiation. Common for all respiratory diseases is that it is recommended, if not necessary, to quit smoking.