This handout is also available in Spanish . Bronchiolitis is a lung infection caused by a virus. Children under age 2 get this illness in the winter and the early spring.
Most children are sick about a week and then get well.
Your child will probably have a runny nose and a slight fever for 2 to 3 days. Then your child may begin to cough, breathe fast and wheeze for another 2 or 3 days. Use a cool-mist vaporizer in the bedroom while the child is sleeping. Run hot water in the shower or bathtub to steam up the bathroom and sit in there with your child if he or she is coughing hard and having trouble breathing. Your child is breathing very fast, more than 40 breaths in one minute.