[Chronic bronchitis and related disorders]

Chronic bronchitis was a disease which attracted much attention in the U.K. in the 1950's. It was classified into three forms known as simple chronic bronchitis, recurrent or mucopurulent bronchitis, and chronic obstructive bronchitis and it was thought that the disease progressed from one form to the next in accordance with their order as listed here. Later, however, it was realized that the disease did not progress according to this order and that chronic bronchitis actually included three kinds of the disease. Furthermore, in the U.K., with the prohibition of the use of coal and the reduction of air pollution and with the decline of infectious disease in child age, recurrent or mucopurulent bronchitis underwent an extreme reduction. Chronic obstructive bronchitis is known to be caused by smoking and is now called chronic bronchitis and emphysema or COPD. Simple chronic bronchitis may in fact be only a simple physical response to smoking. Now in Japan the disease called chronic bronchitis is often recognized when written on receipts for health insurance, but patients of chronic bronchitis as were seen in the U.K. in the 1950's are extremely rare. Diffuse panbronchiolitis is seen in Japan but is a disease not found in the West. Diffuse bronchiectasis and its differentiation become the point of question for this disease. With the effectiveness of erythromycin, we can expect a decline in the number of patients and an improvement in prognosis.