Cough is a typical cold symptom.
However, it can also speak for other diseases.
Certain warning signs should lead you to the doctor.
Allergy-related cough, symptom of a flu infection or corona signs: Cough can indicate various health problems.
It is a protective reflex of the human body.
For example, when you cough, air is expelled explosively to clear mucus and other foreign objects from the airways.
Usually this is not a concern, the body keeps itself healthy in this way.
If there is a sore throat, headache and fever, this indicates a cold, which can usually be cured at home without medical treatment.
However, if the symptoms worsen, you should see a doctor.
Coughing in conjunction with certain other symptoms should also lead to medical attention.
For example, if there is blood in the cough.
Strong, possibly yellow sputum should also lead to the doctor, because this can be a sign of bronchitis.
This is an inflammation of the lower airways.
Has the cough lasted longer than four weeks?
In this case, too, you should have the causes clarified by a doctor.
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A cough is not just a cough.
The types of cough differ depending on the underlying cause.
© Imago
As a rule, however, there are no dangerous causes behind a cough.
It is usually a dry, irritating cough or a productive cough that plagues those affected.
These types of cough often indicate a cold.
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Dry, irritating cough or productive cough: signs of a cold
A dry, hacking cough
is particularly unpleasant because it usually leads to frequent coughing fits.
As the pulmonologists inform on the Internet, this is a cough without sputum that occurs due to irritation of the lower respiratory tract.
A viral infection that dries out the lining of the throat can be the cause.
Productive cough
, which is accompanied by a lot of phlegm, can have a number of causes, like a dry cough.
Like pneumonia or chronic bronchitis.
However, as with a dry cough, there is often a cold behind it.
Especially with bacterial colds, the sputum often turns yellowish or greenish and clumps, according to information from lung doctors on the Internet.
Common cold survey
Only dry cough?
Inflammation is often the problem
It is not uncommon for an infection to start with a dry, irritating cough, which turns into a productive cough as the disease progresses.
But depending on the underlying cause, it can also stay with a dry cough, for example in the case of inflammation such as laryngitis or whooping cough.
If the cough does not improve after a few days and/or other symptoms appear, you should definitely consult a doctor.
Once the diagnosis has been made, the appropriate therapy can be initiated.
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