What Is Respiratory Illness?

Respiratory illnesses refer at range of diseases that affect the respiratory system such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Tuberculosis, asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, acute respiratory infections among others. Several additional respiratory conditions and respiratory hazards, including infectious agents and occupational and environmental exposures, are covered in other areas of Healthy People 2020. The symptoms for these diseases range from mild to severe that sometimes cause death in chronic conditions. Some of the symptoms include coughing, wheezing, breathing distress, chest pains and congestion. Respiratory illnesses are caused by a range of factors. The major risk factors include the indoor and outdoor pollutants, tobacco smoke allergens and occupational agents. The age is also a contributing factor to respiratory illnesses as young children and elderly people are prone to these diseases due to the weak immune systems (Societies, 2013) …show more content…
It is important to note some of the symptoms exhibited by the patient. The symptoms could assist in determining the type of the respiratory condition such as upper respiratory infect, lower respiratory infection or eve acute non infective respiratory problem. It would also be important to get the information of any tests done previously on the patient. The treatment administered on the patient would be important as it would help analyse the best treatment to curb the illness. It would be important to understand the principles of treatment for the respiratory illness exhibited by the patient. (Fraser,