Acute Bronchitis Monologue

The school nurse sends your daughter home early from primary school. Her cough is much worse now, each convulsion rattling her tiny frame. But she’s been coughing for two weeks now. The flu medication the doctors prescribed is clearly not working. You discount the idea of it being a virus and consider something more serious. Google tells you acute bronchitis can last over a month, and your child has all the symptoms—constant coughing, shortness of breath, loss of appetite. She complains she’s tired all the time. You anxiously consider the possibility of pneumonia—like any worried parent would—but rule it out as hypochondriasis. You’ll wait for a second opinion from a specialist before jumping to conclusions.
The doctor says it’s not a virus,
With China’s rapid development, dust and air pollution are prevalent throughout most regions. However, it has become particularly bad in the metropolises of Shanghai and Beijing, where citizens stalk through smog-ridden streets almost daily, armed with only flimsy surgical masks, if anything. This picture has become a common sight in newspapers and online media across the globe, and stands as a warning to other nations of the consequences of rapid expansion and unmonitored air pollution.
Of course, most developed countries have strong laws on air pollution in populated areas; nevertheless, despite efforts to moderate emissions and increase efficiency, our mushrooming populations and wasteful practices continue to strain the environment and our own health.
In Dubai, for example, the opulent capitalist center of the Middle East, a well-heeled local sitting on the balcony of a luxury villa on one of the fronds of the man-made Palm Islands will, more often than not, be disappointed at being unable to admire the nearby half-mile-high Burj Khalifa tower because of the pea-soup haze in the