As the weather enters the autumn and October, the weather gradually turns cooler as well as the influence of autumn dryness, many people have symptoms of coughing, some people appear point is dry cough without phlegm, while some people appear to be coughing with phlegm. So, when coughing, dry cough and phlegm situation which is serious? Below, I will talk to you about this issue.

For the first time, before answering this question, we need to differentiate between diseases that cause dry cough and those that cause cough with phlegm

Coughing is actually a kind of protective measure for our human lungs, when there are some foreign substances in our lungs or perhaps bronchial tubes, they can be expelled through the effect of coughing, so as to ensure the smooth breathing of our lungs. However, if our lungs or bronchial tubes suffer from certain diseases or are stimulated by certain stimuli, then it will cause coughing. Cough in the clinical can often be divided into dry cough and wet cough, dry cough is generally refers to cough without sputum or sputum amount is small, and wet cough is generally refers to the cough is accompanied by more sputum, that is, cough with sputum.

● What diseases can cause a dry cough?

As mentioned above, a dry cough is generally a cough without sputum or with a low amount of sputum, which means that it is mainly a cough, which can be without sputum or with a low amount of sputum. The occurrence of dry cough can generally indicate that there is no serious inflammation of the lungs, but only by some stimulation and thus cause a cough, and therefore did not produce a lot of sputum, clinically, most commonly seen in acute bronchitis, acute and chronic pharyngitis, pleurisy, bronchial foreign body, bronchopulmonary carcinoma, bronchial asthma, pulmonary tuberculosis, bronchial foreign body, pulmonary fibrosis, and so on.

This dry cough is actually very good to understand, it is like our bronchial tubes are constantly stimulated, it will cause cough, for example, usually we are stimulated by cold air, dust or fumes or in the early stage of a cold, then it will cause our throat itchy, which will cause us to have a cough; In addition, if we inhale some allergens in our daily life, such as pollen, dust mites, mold, animal fur, feathers, etc. can also cause respiratory allergic reactions, which can stimulate the respiratory tract, thus inducing dry cough. and feathers can also cause allergic reactions in the respiratory tract, which can stimulate the respiratory tract and induce a dry cough. Especially as good as bronchial asthma, it is actually a respiratory allergic disease, in the onset of the patient will usually be manifested as a dry cough without sputum.

In traditional Chinese medicine, the cause of dry cough is generally due to the loss of fluid in the lungs, such as qi deficiency cough, yin deficiency cough, as well as wind and dry cough throat, etc., especially in the fall season, the weather is particularly dry, so that our lungs are also susceptible to the impact of autumn dryness, which leads to itchy, dry and sore throats, resulting in a dry cough with no sputum or little sputum.

● What diseases can cause a cough with phlegm?

When a cough is accompanied by a lot of sputum, it means that the lungs or bronchial tubes have developed a more serious inflammation, which is why these catarrhal secretions are produced, resulting in the production of more sputum. Clinically, it is often seen in pneumonia (especially bacterial and fungal pneumonia), lung abscess, tuberculosis, bronchitis, bronchodilatation, and middle to late stage lung cancer.

At this time, we can often check the pathogens in the sputum to understand what is causing the infection cough, for example, through the sputum culture can be cultured to find out the presence of sputum in which pathogenic bacteria, in the end is bacterial, fungal, mycoplasma or tuberculosis bacillus, etc., and then according to the results of the sensitivity of the targeted application of drug treatment. The color of the sputum can also be used to make a preliminary judgment, such as yellow sputum, white sputum, green sputum, black sputum, rust-colored sputum, and so on, are related to certain bacterial infections or diseases. Especially when we find that the patient's sputum has blood in it, then it should be taken seriously.

So when coughing, which is worse, a dry cough or the presence of phlegm?

In fact, when we have a cough, it is difficult to say which is more serious, dry cough or phlegm, because there are too many diseases that cause dry cough and phlegm, and some of them have both dry and wet coughs, so you can't tell which is more serious from here alone.

For example, when lung cancer is present, both dry cough and cough with sputum can be present. When lung cancer occurs in bronchial tubes, it is often an irritating cough at this time, which can be manifested as dry cough without sputum; however, when lung cancer develops to middle or late stage, it is accompanied by infection, and at this time, cough with a lot of pus and sputum will occur. So, can you say lung cancer with dry cough is serious or pneumonia with sputum is serious? Or is a dry bronchial cough serious or a lung cancer with sputum serious? It is simply impossible to say!

There is also tuberculosis as well, which is equally characterized by a dry cough and sputum, with a large amount of sputum produced when the tuberculosis bacillus is active and causes cavities in the lungs, but in the early stages of tuberculosis as well as during the period of healing of tuberculosis, only a dry cough is manifested. So again, which of these is serious? It is also impossible to say.

Overall, dry cough and phlegm is only a manifestation of cough, we can not rely on the symptoms of dry cough and phlegm can be a one-sided indication of which situation is serious, it is also necessary to carry out the relevant examination, specifically to find out what disease caused by dry cough or cough with phlegm, so as to know which situation is more serious.

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Coughs can be caused by a wide range of factors, and it is not relevant to determine the severity of a cough based on whether it is dry or productive. Generally speaking, dry coughs are mainly seen in non-infectious coughs; wet coughs, also known as phlegm coughs, are more often seen in infectious coughs, especially those with a large amount of phlegm and purulent phlegm, which should be considered as respiratory infectious diseases first. Below, we will see what respiratory diseases may be behind these two cough symptoms?

What are the diseases that usually cause a dry cough and does it matter? There are many possible diseases that can cause a dry cough, if you mainly manifested as irritating dry cough, usually cough is more intense, night and early morning cough is an important feature, by the cold, cold air, dust and fumes and so on easily triggered or aggravated by the dry cough should be considered to be a cough variant asthma, the need for long-term inhalation of hormone therapy, so as not to progress to become a typical asthma. If the cough occurs during the day and is also sensitive to fumes, dust, odors, or cold air, then eosinophilic bronchitis should be considered, and the symptoms will be significantly reduced with hormone therapy. If there is irritating dry cough, mostly paroxysmal, daytime or nighttime cough, oil smoke, dust, cold air, speech, etc. can easily induce cough, often accompanied by throat itching, then may suffer from variant cough, glucocorticoid or antihistamine treatment is effective. Early bronchopulmonary cancer can also manifest as irritating dry cough without sputum or little sputum, and the cough can be aggravated when the tumor causes bronchial stenosis, which is mostly persistent. If you take ACEI (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor) type of antihypertensive drugs, it can also cause dry cough, which is an adverse reaction of the drug, and the symptoms can be relieved after stopping the drug. In addition, chronic pharyngitis can also cause a dry cough.

If the cough is more sputum, it is mostly a manifestation of infection, and there are many diseases that can cause a wet cough, so let's see:

1. Pneumonia: The main symptoms are coughing up sputum, fever, or aggravation of existing respiratory symptoms. There are many causes of pneumonia, including bacterial, atypical pathogens, viral, fungal, etc., which need to be clearly diagnosed and treated.

2, acute - chronic bronchitis: the first dry cough or a small amount of mucus sputum, followed by an increase in the amount of sputum, cough intensification, cough, cough sputum can continue for 2-3 weeks, such as prolonged can be evolved into chronic bronchitis, usually more than 2 consecutive years, cumulative or lasted for at least 3 months each year. Cough and sputum are usually evident in the morning, with white frothy sputum or mucus sputum, and nocturnal coughing during exacerbations, with coughing predominating in winter and spring. Acute exacerbations are usually caused by infection with associated bacterial pathogens and can be treated with sensitive antibiotics.

3、Bronchial dilatation: clinical manifestations of chronic cough, coughing up a lot of pus sputum and intermittent hemoptysis, often combined with chronic sinusitis. Different stages of the disease can choose to give inhaled hormones or combined long-acting β2 agonists, intravenous administration of sensitive antibiotics for treatment.

4. Tracheobronchial tuberculosis: the main symptom is chronic cough with sputum, which may be accompanied by symptoms of tuberculosis toxicity such as low fever, night sweats, emaciation, etc., and coughing is the only clinical manifestation in some patients. After diagnosis, anti-tuberculosis treatment should be given.

5、Bronchial lung cancer: cough, blood in sputum or coughing up blood are common symptoms of central lung cancer, of course, this should be combined with long-term smoking history, CT examination and bronchoscopy to make a clear diagnosis. You should not rely on similar symptoms and scare yourself, it is the wisest choice to find out the symptoms and consult doctor for clear diagnosis as early as possible.

If severe dry cough or frequent coughing interferes with rest and sleep, cough suppressants can be given appropriately. Patients with excessive phlegm should be treated with expectorant drugs.

Knowing this, generalizing the severity from whether it is a dry cough or phlegm is very one-sided, and symptoms should be addressed promptly to clarify the diagnosis so that the cause can be treated.

References:

Asthma Group of the Respiratory Diseases Branch of the Chinese Medical Association. Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of cough (2015)

Author: Clinical Pharmacist Hu Tianxin

The authoritative interpretation of Pharmaceutical Affairs, unauthorized reproduction, plagiarism will be punished.

Hello, I am Dr. Lin, cough is the most common symptom of respiratory infections, Dr. Lin childhood poor health, a cold in winter, and again, nasal congestion, headache, coughing, sometimes coughing all night sleep, but at home when coughing on nothing, is coughing and coughing phlegm in class is very much affected by the teacher and classmates, and is very unhygienic. Because of frequent colds, Dr. Lin also thought about this problem when he was a child, and he thought that phlegm was more serious, especially when coughing up thick phlegm, the sound is very heavy and cloudy, and it feels like the lungs are coming out. So let's talk about which one is more serious.

To find out which is worse, let's first look at what causes both types of coughs.

Cough with phlegm:

We know how phlegm comes in the first place:

Phlegm is produced by human tracheal and bronchial glands, mucous glands and cup cells secretion, under normal circumstances, these cells on the secretion of liquid, mainly used to moisten the mucous membranes and adherence to airborne dust and microorganisms. Normal people secrete about 100mL per day, the cilia of the epithelial cells of the tracheal mucosa fan outward, so that these fluids are transported to the pharyngeal cavity, swallowed with saliva into the stomach, so normal people are rarely phlegm.When inflammation occurs in the respiratory tract, mucus secretion increases and mixes with inhaled dust and pathogenic bacteria to form phlegm, which is expelled from the body after coughing.

The nature of our clinical sputum can be divided into four categories:

1. Mucous sputum: viscous, colorless, transparent or slightly white.Most commonly found inBronchitis, bronchial asthmaand the early stages of lobar pneumonia.

2. Plasma sputum:It is plasma-like, thin and very foamy, and is caused by leakage of fluid from the capillaries into the alveoli during pulmonary stasis.Mostly pink in color, seen in pulmonary edema, heart failure.

3. Purulent sputum: yellow, yellowish green or yellowish brown, in large quantities there is stratification: foamy mucus in the upper layer, plasma in the middle layer, and pus and necrotic tissue in the lower layer.It is commonly associated with purulent bacterial infections such as lung abscesses and bronchiectasis.

4. Bloody sputum:Mainly, the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract are damaged, and the sputum is mixed with blood.Most commonly seen in inflammation, tuberculosis, tumors, etc., also seen in pulmonary edema.

In fact, the above is only a part of the possible diseases, but we are also common is bronchitis and pneumonia cough cough phlegm, but because the cough is more difficult to treat, and if there is no control of phlegm secretion, hastily cough resulting in phlegm stagnation in the throat, resulting in bacterial aggregation, it will only exacerbate the condition, so parents of children with cough medication should be divided into circumstances to use.

Disease commonly associated with a dry cough without sputum:

A dry cough may seem like one less symptom than a productive cough, but that doesn't mean it's any less likely to suffer from a disease than a productive cough.

A dry cough can be bothThe infection can also be some inflammation and possibly some allergies.

Inflammatory categories areChildren with mycoplasma pneumonia, and "whooping cough" similar to the sound of a rooster crowing, although it can be cured, but these two dry cough treatment cycle is after all long, so the child is still quite suffering.

It also occurs in digestive disorders if, for example, thegastroesophageal refluxIt can also cause this dry cough.

Allergic factors are also a more common cause of dry cough.For example, cough variant asthma in small children is characterized by a chronic dry cough. The disease can only be relieved by nebulized inhalation of some bronchodilators and hormonal drugs during the allergy season, and may recover on its own when it grows up with a well-developed immune system.

However, if the dry cough does not get better for a long time, we also need to be alert to the following two diseases:

i. Tuberculosis.This condition also tends to manifest itself as a chronic dry cough, and when it is severe, theLow-grade fever or night sweats may occurIn mild cases, there may also be only a dry cough.

II. SomeSmaller lung cancersIt can also be characterized by a chronic dry cough. Tuberculosis and lung tumors can be diagnosed only after imaging and sputum tests.

Summary:From the above both non-productive and productive coughs have overlapping diseases such as pneumonia and tumors, and there are a number of diseases that both symptoms may be suffering from soIn terms of the type of disease, it's impossible to say which one is worse.，But personally, I feel that the cough is worse with phlegm.Because phlegmatic coughs are in the later stages of the diseasePhlegm collects in the throat and bronchial tubes and becomes stuffy.And sometimes, in order to cough up the phlegm, you need to cough hard, which can easily damage the bronchial mucosa and cause secondary damage. Having said that.Dr. Lin thinks they are all serious, no need to be overly concerned about these, go to the doctor if you are sick, follow-up timely and doctor feedback on the change of symptoms during the medication, so that they can personally tell you which one is serious is the most accurate.

Coughing is a defense mechanism of the human body, the human body in order to discharge respiratory secretions and foreign bodies, and produce a protective reflex activity, this reflex activity can prevent foreign bodies or external bacteria, etc. into the lower respiratory tract, to ensure that the respiratory tract is smooth, to avoid the airway blockage and the risk of secondary infections and so on.

Coughs are categorized into dry coughs and wet coughs. Dry coughs are coughs without sputum or with very little sputum, mostly non-infectious coughs. A wet cough is a cough with sputum, which may be white or yellowish, and is mostly infectious. Both dry and wet coughs are very common, some people have a simple dry cough, others have a dry cough that develops later, and some have a wet cough with a lot of sputum from the beginning. It is not possible to determine which is more serious, a dry cough or a wet cough, alone. It depends exactly on which causes the cough.

Dry cough is commonly associated with laryngitis, the early stages of acute bronchitis, pleurisy, bronchial foreign bodies, and lung cancer. For example, if there is an irritating dry cough at night and in the early morning that is easily triggered or aggravated by colds, cold air, dust, and fumes, you should consider the possibility of cough variant asthma. Early bronchopulmonary cancer can also manifest as irritating dry cough with no or little sputum. When the tumor causes bronchial stenosis the cough will be gradual and mostly persistent. Some patients with high blood pressure take Prilosec (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor) antihypertensive drugs, which can also trigger dry cough, which is an adverse reaction of the drug, and the symptoms can be relieved after stopping the drug. Long-term odor, fumes or chemical stimulation can also appear dry cough.

Wet cough is mostly a manifestation of infection. Diseases that can cause wet cough include pneumonia, acute and chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis, lung abscess, tuberculosis, and bronchopulmonary cancer. The pathogen can be bacterial, viral, fungal, mycoplasma or tuberculosis. When wet cough is present, i.e., when sputum is heavy, sputum bacterial and fungal cultures, sputum smears to look for bacilli, and sputum to look for decidualized cells can be performed to further define the cause of the disease. Generally speaking, antibiotics are usually needed to fight inflammation in the presence of wet cough, and sputum culture can also be done to guide the use of antibiotics for drug sensitization. For the diagnosis of tuberculosis patients need standardized anti-tuberculosis treatment, while the discovery of bronchopulmonary cancer patients need active anti-tumor treatment.

Therefore, you can not one-sidedly think that dry cough is light and wet cough is heavy, dry cough and wet cough are different forms of different diseases. When the cough occurs, do not just think of taking what cough suppressant to stop coughing, first find out the cause of the cough, the cause of the treatment, such as bronchial foreign body caused by dry cough need to remove the foreign body; take antihypertensive drugs caused by dry cough need to stop using ACEI antihypertensive drugs; cough variant asthma or eosinophilic bronchitis caused by dry cough need to be anti-allergy and hormone therapy. Bronchitis, pneumonia, lung abscess need effective anti-inflammatory treatment, anti-inflammatory at the same time need to actively resolve sputum, sputum, sputum contains protein components, bacteria and shed epithelium, if a cough will make the sputum thicker and more difficult to discharge, and aggravate the infection. Remember, coughing is not a bad thing, it can make the phlegm discharge, so that the airway is clear, so there is no need to stop coughing blindly.

Coughing is a warning sign that can be seen in a variety of diseases, such as tumors, tuberculosis, pneumoconiosis, vasculitis, etc., andThe presence or absence of phlegm alone often does not determine the severity of the condition.

What conditions can cause a dry cough?

1. Early lung cancer

Smaller adenocarcinomas or squamous carcinomas of the lungs, which damage the airway mucosa, can cause an irritating dry cough, and adults over the age of 40 with a paroxysmal dry cough should be taken seriously.

Early symptoms of small lung cancers like this one are not obvious, and some people may experience a mild dry cough, which can be easily overlooked.

2. Other tracheal tumors

For example, carcinoid tumors, papillomas, mesenchymal tissue sarcomas, and bronchial metastatic carcinomas can present early with symptoms of a dry cough suggesting invasion of the airway mucosa.

3. Early inflammatory lesions

The most common areMycoplasma pneumonia, through adhesion proteins attached to the epithelium of bronchial cilia, releases toxins causing inflammation of the distal airspace. Mycoplasma pneumonia secretions are often viscous and difficult to cough up, so they often present as a frequent dry cough, sometimes requiring dilution by nebulized inhalation or bronchoalveolar lavage.

In addition, as in some Klebsiella pneumonia (below), the lung tissue becomes necrotic, thicker, and difficult to expel, and can present as a dry cough or with thick sputum.

What conditions can cause coughing up phlegm?

1. Lung cancer

Lung cancer can cause either a dry cough, or it can be accompanied by sputum, even blood in the sputum, or pus sputum.

as suchMucinous adenocarcinoma, more notably characterized by a large amount of white foamy sputum, in which cancer cells are often detected.

There are also some central lung cancers that block the airways causing obstructive inflammation, and pus sputum and blood in sputum can occur.

In general persistent coughing symptoms should be promptly checked with a chest CT.

2. Pneumonia in the solid and absorptive phases

Coughing symptoms accompanied by fever and elevated blood counts should be watched out for pneumonia, which can be treated aggressively and can be followed by coughing up a lot of sputum at a later stage, which is a sign of improvement.

3. Tuberculosis of the lungs, tracheobronchial tuberculosis.

Active TB commonly coughs up sputum and is contagious, so be careful about parcel burning.Sometimes TB can also present as a dry cough.

This young man is a single parent, usually love the Internet, eat more casually, poor nutrition, the occurrence of tuberculosis, caseous pneumonia, and then interrupted their own treatment, causing tuberculosis dissemination ......

Overall.A persistent cough, with or without sputum, should be checked by a respiratory physician for prompt treatment.

Be responsible for your own health!

This is Dr. Howe in Imaging, focusing on quality Gnosis Q&A, feel free to follow me!

Which would you say is more serious, a dry cough caused by laryngitis or a lung abscess stuck with thick sputum? Undoubtedly the latter. Which would you say is more serious, a dry cough caused by bronchial lung cancer or sputum from a cold? Undoubtedly the former. Therefore, the severity of the cough does not depend on the presence or absence of phlegm, but on the cause of the cough!

General dry cough refers to cough without sputum or with little sputum, mostly seen in pharyngolaryngitis, acute bronchitis, pleural disease, bronchopulmonary cancer, bronchial foreign body, etc. Wet cough refers to cough with sputum, mostly seen in bronchitis, bronchiectasis, pneumonia, lung abscess, pulmonary tuberculosis and so on.

To determine the etiology of a cough, reference should be made to the timing, rhythm and timbre of the cough, the nature and amount of sputum, and accompanying symptoms. For example, sudden onset of cough is often seen in bronchial foreign body, laryngitis; paroxysmal cough is often seen in bronchial asthma, tuberculosis; morning cough is seen in bronchodilatation, lung abscess; barking cough is seen in laryngeal edema; pink foamy sputum is seen in left heart failure; cough with croup is seen in bronchial asthma; cough with hemoptysis is seen in pulmonary tuberculosis and so on.

Coughing is actually a defense mechanism of the body, a protective reflex, so you can't just stop the cough, find the cause and then treat it!

Dry cough is fast, phlegm is slow, to cough for many days, I take children so many years summarized, dry cough I do not worry, usually no inflammation, cough on the good, phlegm, phlegm, it takes days to discharge phlegm, no ten days and a half months can not be good.

I am Dr. Shadow. Cough can be dry or wet, dry cough is with little or no sputum, wet cough is with a lot of pus or white sputum. Lung cancer can be characterized by a dry cough or a wet cough, as can tuberculosis. You can't use dry cough or wet cough to evaluate which one is serious, you have to really find out the cause of the cough to know which one is serious.

Coughing is the body's self-protection

In a normal person air is inhaled through the nose, enters the trachea and bronchial tubes to reach the lungs, where it is exchanged for oxygen. In a normal person there are no abnormal objects in this passage, no foreign bodies, no phlegm, etc. But if there is an abnormal fluid in the lungs, an infected exudate, or if there is a lesion in the lungs that irritates the nerves, a coughing action occurs in order to expel these things and protect the airway, enabling the lungs to be cleaned out, which is the body's self-protection.

For example, if you accidentally choked a little bit of water or food into your windpipe, you will have a violent cough, with the purpose of coughing to get rid of these abnormalities.

Dry and wet coughs are not indicative of disease severity

Coughs are categorized into dry and wet coughs. Dry coughs are coughs with no or little phlegm, while wet coughs are coughs with a lot of phlegm, a lot of pus or white phlegm. The two types of cough do not represent the severity of the disease; it is important to really find the cause of the cough.

Lung cancer, for example, can present as a dry cough, or even no cough, without any symptoms when there is no accompanying infection. The cause of cough is irritating cough. When lung cancer is accompanied by infection, it can also manifest as cough with a lot of pus and sputum.

For example, tuberculosis, tuberculosis with cavity formation, is a large amount of sputum, and highly contagious, each mouthful of sputum can be good with a large number of tuberculosis bacilli. There are also people who have tuberculosis, just a slight cough, thinking it's just a simple cold.

Antibiotic treatment is usually required for more severe infections, such as bronchiectasis, pneumonia, and when a large amount of necrotic tissue is formed, which manifests itself as a wet cough with a large amount of sputum.

Dry cough is usually manifested in lung cancer, acute upper respiratory tract infections, acute bronchitis, pleurisy, tuberculosis, variant asthma, and so on.

No matter what kind of cough, to really find the cause of the cough, in order to evaluate the severity. Middle-aged and elderly people, if the cough does not improve for a month, must be timely formal hospital consultation.

I am.Dr. Shadow. To learn more about medicine, follow me.

In fact, there are dry cough and wet cough, also equivalent to the doctor in the clinical diagnosis of dry rhonchi and wet rhonchi (including phlegm sound). It has significance in determining the etiology of the disease, but has no significance in the severity of the disease.

Common Diseases of Pediatric Dry Cough

1, post-infectious cough, often without the inflammation of the infection, such as influenza virus, parainfluenza virus infection after the performance of the airway transient airway hyperreactivity, so there is no sputum dry cough is dominant. But often also show self-limiting.

2, cough variant asthma This is an exclusive diagnosis, often in the bronchodilator drug treatment is effective, antibiotic treatment is ineffective, this point to support the diagnosis, sometimes paroxysmal dry cough as the only performance.

3, Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Chlamydia infection is often also the absence of sputum, the performance of spasmodic cough, irritating dry cough.

4, pertussis syndrome in pertussis bacillus or bronchial pertussis bacillus and other infections such as coughing is often paroxysmal, lasts longer spasmodic cough, sometimes coughing before the end of with chicken-like echo.

Common Causes of Pediatric Cough with Phlegm

1. Postnasal drip syndrome (i.e., upper airway cough syndrome), nasal secretions in the throat, cough with sputum, sputum is foamy white sputum or yellow sputum.

2、Acute bronchitis Bacterial infections tend to have sputum, cough with coughing up sputum, and may or may not have fever.

3, pneumonia If it is bacterial tend to have wet rales, to play cough with phlegm, phlegm "position feel deeper", not easy to cough out.

4, bronchial foreign body The beginning often dry cough, if not diagnosed in time, there will be a cough and sputum performance, and even fever.

In short, whether a child has a dry cough or a cough with sputum is just a classification of coughs, not a distinction between the severity of the disease, so you can't talk about which disease is more severe in terms of whether it is a dry cough or a cough with sputum. For example, infant pertussis syndrome can sometimes be life-threatening, while postnasal drip will not; pneumonia cough with sputum if not treated will also be aggravated, while the infection cough performance of dry cough is self-limiting, so you can not test the nature of the cough to simply differentiate. (Images from the Internet, such as infringement will be deleted, please contact me)

Dr. Ke is a chief pediatrician with extensive clinical experience, specializing in children's digestive and respiratory diseases, chronic cough, H. pylori infection, chronic gastritis, functional constipation, liver function abnormalities, chronic diarrhea, milk protein allergy, and other difficult and complicated cases as well as nutritional development and feeding consultation for infants and young children.

With health as a companion, with the doctor as a friend, welcome to forward the praise, comment attention, praise and share is a virtue. Questions can be left, Dr. Ke in the break time will be on the typical questions targeted answer.

Which is more serious: dry cough or phlegm? The two are not exactly proportional to the severity of the disease, for example, some lung cancer patients' first symptom is irritating dry cough, but there are also patients who cough up sputum and find out that they have lung cancer, so it is hard to say that the situation is serious. Below are a few actual cases that I have encountered in my clinical practice.

• Case 1

Male, in his thirties, coughing for a month with no or very little sputum, with low-grade fever and emaciation. Chest CT is shown below:

In the chest CT image see cavity, lung solid and with the bronchus, accompanied by rows of speckled high-density shadow, combined with sputum test tuberculosis bacillus positive diagnosis of tuberculosis, this patient is mainly dry cough, tuberculosis after regular anti-tuberculosis treatment can be cured.

• Case 2

Male, in his sixties, coughing up sputum for half a month with chest pain and high fever, as shown by chest CT:

Chest CT: right lower lung see multiple mass-like density shadow, see multiple speckled slightly high density shadow, combined with the history of two years ago isolated mass consider the possibility of lung cancer, with the right lower lung inflammation, this patient is mainly cough cough sputum, diagnosis of lung cancer, then it is impossible to cure.

Whether it's a dry cough or coughing up phlegm, it's a sign of a respiratory problem that requires us to identify the cause of the dry cough or coughing up phlegm and treat it promptly to rule out potential health problems.

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