how long does bronchitis take to incubate. the lady i live with got sick on wednesday of last week with bronchitis and i would like to know how long i need to be worried about catching it. she has since started on antibiotics.
bronchitis is not contagious but the respiratory virus that most likely caused it can be. most clinicians do not use antibiotic to treat it unless it was felt there is a bacterial component or underlying respiratory condition that warrants it. exposure to this virus does not necessarily mean that you will get bronchitis. you may just get a cold. or nothing at all. respiratory viruses can have an incubation period as short as 12-24 hours.