Lower respiratory tract infection

Lower respiratory tract infection, often shortened to LRTI, is an infection of the airways and lung tissue below the voice box. The term is frequently used as a synonym for pneumonia, but it also covers acute bronchitis and lung abscess. Typical symptoms are shortness of breath, weakness, fever, cough and fatigue, and a chest X-ray is not always needed to make the diagnosis. Antibiotics are the first line treatment for bacterial pneumonia but do nothing against viral or parasitic infections, while acute bronchitis usually clears by itself. Lower respiratory infections remain among the leading infectious causes of death worldwide, with an estimated 291 million cases and 2.74 million deaths in 2015.