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Coughs 

A cough is a reflex action to clear your airways of mucus, phlegm and irritants such as dust, smoke or a foreign body.

A cough can be caused by inflammation of your upper respiratory tract (throat and windpipe) due to a viral infection. Viral infections include the common cold, flu, laryngitis and bronchitis. These viral infections can also spread to the lower respiratory tract (bronchi) to cause a cough.

A cough is a symptom of many illnesses and conditions including:

  • Asthma.
  • Bronchitis.
  • Common cold.
  • Influenza (flu).
  • Smoking.
  • Whooping cough (pertussis).

Some prescribed medicines can also cause a cough (for example, ACE-inhibitors, which are medicines for treating heart failure). Rarely, a cough is a symptom of a more serious condition such as lung cancer, heart failure, a pulmonary embolism (clot on the lung), tuberculosis (TB) or pneumonia.

Coughs caused by the common cold or by flu usually clear up after a few days. However, a cough that's caused by a lung infection, such as bronchitis, may be present for several weeks after the infection has gone because the inflammation in the airways can take a while to clear. If you've had a cough for more than two weeks following a viral infection, seek medical advice from your GP.

Reproduced under the terms of Click-Use Licence number C2009000382. The content of this page has been published under a Click-Use Licence (link this to http://www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/index) which covers the use of core Crown copyright information. The original material can be found on NHS Choices.