

Instead, a doctor may prescribe antiviral medications. If an individual has viral pneumonia, antibiotics will not work. They can treat bacterial pneumonia and some types of fungal pneumonia with antibiotics. The treatment that doctors use for pneumonia depends on the germ causing the initial infection. The infection causes the air sacs of the lungs to fill up with pus or fluid.

Pneumonia occurs when viruses, bacteria, or fungus cause an infection in one or both lungs. Various health conditions may cause adventitious sounds, including: Pneumonia Rubs arise during the same point in the respiratory cycle as a person breathes both in and out. Rubs are typically louder than the other sounds because it occurs on the chest wall. If the pleura become inflamed, they can rub against each other, causing an adventitious breath sound. They cover the outside of the lungs and the inside of the chest wall. The pleura are protective, cushioning layers of tissue.

Unlike wheezes, stridor occurs during inspiration and is only in the upper airways. Usually, an airflow blockage in the windpipe or the back of the throat causes this sound. Like rhonchi, this sound can happen as someone breathes out or breathes in and out, but it never occurs just when someone breathes in. Air movement through constricted narrow airways causes wheezes. This sound can occur in expiration, or both inspiration and expiration, but never solely in inspiration. They happen when something blocks the airways or when airflow becomes turbulent as it passes through the large airways. For example, smaller airways produce higher-pitched, fine crackles. The difference between these comes from the size of the airway opening. Doctors can usually hear crackles as someone inhales.ĭoctors may classify crackles as coarse or fine. Crackles happen when a person breathes in and the small airways open. The types of adventitious breath sound include: CracklesĬrackles are slight bubbling, clicking, or rattling sounds in the lungs. We also look at the range of health conditions that can cause these sounds, and when an individual should seek medical attention. In this article, we examine adventitious breath sounds and the different types. Other nonclinical issues can cause unusual breath sounds, such as foreign bodies.Īlthough adventitious breath sounds may worry someone because they are unusual, they do not necessarily indicate a severe health condition.

conditions unrelated to the lungs, such as heart failure.People may experience adventitious breath sounds, also known as adventitious lung sounds, if they have: Individuals may notice these noises themselves, or a doctor may discover them when listening to someone’s chest with a stethoscope.Īnything that changes the normal airflow through the lungs can cause a range of clicks, crackles, wheezes, and snoring noises that doctors classify as adventitious breath sounds. Adventitious breath sounds are abnormal sounds resulting from unusual airflow through the lungs.
