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Bronchitis is inflammation of the tracheal-bronchial airway that usually is caused by viruses, most typically. Seldom can be caused by bacteria as well.

Bronchitis is treated usually with supportive treatment, such as over the counter antitussives, Tylenol for aches or pains that the patient may have.

Pneumonia is more so a bacterial infection of the actual lung tissue itself.

Pneumonia has to be treated with antibiotics and so a person should seek treatment whenever you have a cough that is bothersome or you have shortness of breath, or if you have a fever.

Very easy to confuse bronchitis and pneumonia, because they have such similarities. When you start talking about cough, sometimes trouble breathing, sometimes fever, so it can be very difficult to differentiate between bronchitis and pneumonia.

There's typically not distinct symptoms that can tell pneumonia and bronchitis apart, because they typically overlap with cough, fever, sometimes difficulty breathing as well.

The ways to tell bronchitis and pneumonia apart are typically you would need to obtain an x-ray, a chest radiograph to determine if there are signs of consolidation or infiltrate on the chest radiograph. If that is found, typically that is more consistent with pneumonia. On a chest radiograph bronchitis does not really show any specific findings. So that is definitely one way to tell the difference between bronchitis and pneumonia. There are a few other things also; sometimes when the respiratory rate is more increased, that typically goes for pneumonia, also fever, although you can find it in both, usually happens more so with pneumonia as well, but again, it can be as bronchitis as well.