Viral infections like a cold or chicken pox can cause inflammation of the airways of the lungs. When this occurs your daughter may have difficulty breathing, especially when she is active or laughs.
After the infection is gone, it is possible for the inflammation to linger. This inflammation can last for several weeks. Sometimes this inflammation may linger for 3 to 6 months. Eventually the inflammation will go away, and then the difficulty breathing will stop. This is called reactive airways disease (RAD) and behaves a lot like asthma. This inflammation often clears more quickly when it is treated with an inhaled steroid medicine like Pulmicort Respules
You can have something known as asthmatic bronchitis, which is simply an inflammatory response by the airway paths in response to a recent infection. The inflammatory response can narrow the airways and cause wheezing, which will ease over time as the infection clears.
This condition can linger for weeks following a respiratory illness. If it becomes troublesome, causing shortness of breath, moderate wheezing or frequent coughing, it can be treated for a short period of time.