Here’s how to tell if your cough is caused by the coronavirus or something else

Doctors and other care givers have been listening to different kinds of coughs for hundreds of years to try to figure out what’s wrong with the person.

Coughs are a good way to figure out what’s wrong with you, but how do you know if you have a harmless cough, a coronavirus cough, or something else?

A cough every now and then is fine, but a cough that lasts for weeks, makes bloody mucus, changes the color of your phlegm, or comes with fever, dizziness, or tiredness may mean you need to see a doctor.

Cough questions

If you have a cough and go to the doctor, he or she will want to know:

• how long has your cough been going on? Days, weeks, months?
• when does it hurt the most? Night, morning, or sometimes during the day?
• how does it sound when you cough? Dry, wet, barking, hacking, loud, quiet?
• does the cough cause you to throw up, feel dizzy, have trouble sleeping, or something else?
• what’s wrong with your cough? Does it get in the way of your daily life? Is it painful, annoying, persistent, or only sometimes there?

COVID-19 cough is dry, lingers, and makes it hard to breathe

The most obvious signs of COVID-19 are fever and tiredness. You may also feel like you have a cold or the flu. About half of those who are sick have a cough.

Since COVID-19 hurts the lung tissue, the cough is dry and lasts a long time. It makes you short of breath and hurts your muscles.

As the disease gets worse, fluid builds up in the lungs, making it harder for your body to get enough oxygen. This can make you feel even less able to breathe.

Wet and hacking, or dry and snotty?

When you have a wet cough, phlegm comes up from your lungs and lower airways into your mouth. This is different from a dry cough, which comes from your nose and throat.

The “wet” sound is caused by fluid in the airways. When you breathe in, you may also hear a wheezing sound. The lower airways have more glands that make mucus than the throat. This is why a wet cough is caused by an infection in the lower airways.

With a dry cough, there is no phlegm. Most of the time, it starts in the back of the throat and makes a barking or rough sound. Since a dry cough doesn’t clear your airways, people who have it often call it a “unsatisfying cough.”

When you have an infection in your nose or throat, it irritates those areas and makes you cough and have a sore throat. This kind of cough is common when you have the flu or a cold.

A dry cough can sometimes turn into a wet cough over time.

For example, the lung infection pneumonia usually starts with a dry cough that can be painful and can make it harder to breathe over time. As an infection gets worse, the air sacs in the lungs (called alveoli) can fill up with inflammatory secretions like fluid from lung tissue and blood. This makes the cough wet. At this point, the phlegm becomes foamy and red.

Then there’s whooping cough

Whooping cough is caused by a bacterial infection that affects cells in the airways and makes them irritated and make mucus.

Symptoms include coughing fits that end with a loud “breathing in” sound that often sounds like a long “whoop” and leave you gasping for air. Mucus often comes out.

Long, hard coughing can hurt your airways, break your ribs, or tear your muscles, so it’s important to know when you need medical help.

So, no matter what your cough sounds like, pay attention to it and see a doctor (in person or through telehealth) if it doesn’t go away or gets worse.