Bronchiolitis Symptoms & Diagnosis

Symptoms

Symptoms of bronchiolitis occur in two stages:

During the first 2-3 days the child will probably have a:

• Runny or stuffy nose
• Slight fever

During the next 2-3 days, the symptoms increase to include:

• Cough (dry)
• Fever
• Sneezing
• Rash
• Red eyes
• Fast rate of breathing
• Difficulty breathing
• Wheezing (making a whistling noise during breathing)
• Bluish color in the skin, especially around the lips or nails
• Poor feeding
• Restlessness

Diagnosis

To diagnose bronchiolitis, the doctor may do one or more of the following:

• Listen to the child’s lungs to check for abnormal breathing, such as wheezing
• Chest x-ray to check for swelling in the airways and signs of pneumonia (severe case)
• Sample mucus from nose or throat to test for the virus that may be causing the infection
• Blood test to determine the level of oxygen in the blood
• Blood test for complete blood count