Which condition can be diagnosed by the presence of wheezing and coughing?

Wheezing and coughing are characteristic symptoms often associated with asthma. Asthma is a chronic inflammatory condition of the airways that leads to airflow obstruction, and it is marked by episodes of wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and coughing, particularly at night or early in the morning. The wheezing occurs due to the narrowing of the bronchial tubes, which is a hallmark of an asthma attack, as the air passages become constricted, inflamed, and filled with mucus.

In contrast, while pneumonia, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis can also present with cough, they do not specifically cause wheezing in the same way as asthma does. Pneumonia is more likely to present with productive cough and fever, emphysema is associated with chronic cough and shortness of breath largely due to lung tissue destruction, and chronic bronchitis involves a persistent cough with mucus production but may not feature wheezing as a defining symptom. Thus, the presence of both wheezing and coughing points towards asthma as the most fitting diagnosis in this scenario.