Bronchointerstitial Pneumonia

  • May be considred as a variation of bronchopneumonia
  • A hybrid of bronchopneumonia and interstitial pneumonia in which the interstitial inflammation (inflammation of alveolar walls) is restricted to alveoli in the vicinity of terminal bronchioles from which the infections spread
  • Like broncho-pneumonia it is most common in cranioventral lobes
  • Inhaled mycoplasmas and some viruses
  • Initial inflammatory reaction occurring in the bronchioles, but its main expression being an interstitial lymphocytic proliferation, often to the extent of forming complete lymphoid follicles around the airways - a cell-mediated response to chronic persistent antigenic challenge