Emphysema, Chronic Bronchitis, and Flu If you have emphysema or chronic bronchitis, you need to be extra vigilant in preventing flu. You already know that with emphysema or chronic bronchitis it's difficult to breathe under normal circumstances. But the combination of lung disease and flu, a respiratory viral infection, worsens your breathing problem, making it very difficult to breathe through obstructed, inflamed airways.

In addition, getting flu with emphysema or chronic bronchitis increases the chance of bacterial infections such as pneumonia. This serious infection occurs because of the airway obstruction and inability to cough out infected mucus.

H1N1 Flu Virus