Patients with mitral stenosis frequently get respiratory tract infections during the winter, hence it was often referred to as 'winter bronchitis'. The mechanism is not known. A previous study could not identify any differences in spirometry between mitral stenosis patients with frequent episodes of bronchitis and those without these episodes.
My opinion is that minor upper respiratory tract infections probably increases the pressure gradient across the stenosed mitral valve resulting in higher pulmonary venous pressures and resultant bronchial mucosa congestion and subsequent wheezing, cough and dyspnoea.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1018737/?page=1
In patients with heart failure, varying degrees of alveoli flooding may interfere with normal physiological mechanisms operating in the alveolar lining fluid at the interphase between air and the lung tissue , both increasing the risk of infection and hampering clearance once infection is established.
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