A cough is a reflex action to clear your airways of mucus and irritants such as dust or smoke. Coughs may be ‘dry or ‘chesty’. They are also classified according to how long they last:
- acute cough lasts for less than three weeks,
- subacute cough gets better over a three-to-eight-week period, and
- chronic (persistent) cough lasts for longer than eight weeks.
Coughs caused by the common cold or by flu usually clear up after a few days. Most coughs clear up within two weeks.
What are the causes?
Most people with a cough have a respiratory tract infection caused by a virus, such as the common cold, flu or bronchitis.
A persistent cough in adults may be caused by smoking, a condition such as rhinitis or asthma, or a prescribed medicine such as an ACE-inhibitor (to treat heart disease).
In children, a persistent cough may indicate a more serious respiratory tract infection such as whooping cough.
When to see your doctor
If you have had a cough for more than two weeks following a viral infection, or if your cough is progressively getting worse, see your doctor.
Dry cough vs chesty cough
Dry cough
A dry cough occurs when the throat and upper airways become inflamed (swollen). It is non-productive, which means that phlegm (thick mucus) is not produced.
The common cold or flu causes a dry cough because your brain thinks the inflammation in your throat and upper airways is a foreign object and tries to remove it by coughing.
Dry coughs are usually felt in the throat as a tickle, which sets off the coughing.
Chesty cough
A chesty cough usually produces phlegm. The cough is helpful, because it clears the phlegm from your lung passages.
Causes of cough
Most coughs are caused by viral infections and usually clear up on their own.
Acute cough
Most people with an acute cough have a respiratory tract infection caused by a virus.
It will usually be an upper respiratory tract infection (URTI), which means the virus has affected your throat or windpipe. Examples of URTIs causing cough are:
- the common cold,
- influenza (flu), and
- laryngitis.
If your cough is caused by a lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI), the virus has infected your airways lower down or your lungs. Examples of LRTIs are:
- bronchitis, and
- pneumonia (although this is rare).
Other possible causes for an acute cough are allergic rhinitis, such as hayfever, or in rare cases it may be the first sign of a chronic disease (see below).
Chronic cough
Common causes of a persistent cough in adults are:
- smoking,
- postnasal drip (mucus dripping down the throat from the back of the nose, caused by a condition such as rhinitis),
- asthma, and
- gastro-oesophageal reflux disease.
Some prescribed medicines can also cause a persistent cough (for example, ACE-inhibitors, which are medicines for treating heart failure).
In children, common causes are:
- respiratory tract infections, such as bronchitis or whooping cough,
- asthma, and
- gastro-oesophageal reflux disease.
Rarely, a cough is a symptom of a more serious condition such as lung cancer, heart failure, a pulmonary embolism (clot on the lung) or tuberculosis (TB).
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