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Cough

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Cough
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Cough

A cough is a common reflex action that clears the throat of mucus or foreign irritants. Coughing to clear the throat is typically an infrequent action, although a number of conditions can cause more frequent bouts of coughing.


In general, a cough that lasts for less than three weeks is an acute cough.


A cough that lasts between 3 and 8 weeks, improving by the end of that period, is a subacute cough.


A persistent cough that lasts more than eight weeks is a chronic cough.


Most cough episodes will clear up, or at least significantly improve, within two weeks. If you cough up blood or have a “barking” cough, talk to your doctor. Any cough that hasn’t improved after a few weeks may be serious, and you should see a doctor.

Clearing the throat

A cough is a standard way of clearing the throat. When your airways become clogged with mucus or foreign particles such as smoke or dust, a cough is a reflex reaction that attempts to clear the particles and make breathing easier.

Usually, this type of coughing is relatively infrequent, but coughing will increase with exposure to irritants such as smoke.

Smoking

Smoking is another common cause of coughing. A cough caused by smoking is almost always a chronic cough with a distinctive sound. It’s often known as “smoker’s cough.”

Asthma

A common cause of coughing in young children is asthma. Typically, asthmatic coughing involves wheezing, making it easy to identify. Asthma exacerbations should receive treatment using an inhaler. It’s possible for children to grow out of asthma as they get older.

Treatment
The treatment of a cough in children is based on the underlying cause. In children half of cases go away without treatment in 10 days and 90% in 25 days.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics the use of cough medicine to relieve cough symptoms is supported by little evidence and thus not recommended for treating cough symptoms in children. There is tentative evidence that the use of honey is better than no treatment or diphenhydramine in decreasing coughing.It does not alleviate coughing to the same extent as dextromethorphan.A trial of antibiotics or inhaled corticosteroids may be tried in children with a chronic cough in an attempt to treat protracted bacterial bronchitis or asthma respectively.

https://www.healthline.com/symptom/cough
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cough
Cough

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