What are the different causes of coughs?
Dr. Kelkar: Coughing is a reflex and usually happens involuntarily; it’s your body’s natural reaction to an irritated airway. Often, it is a symptom of an underlying disease. For instance, chronic “it-won’t-go-away” coughing can indicate that asthma, allergies or GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) is out of control. Coughing is also the body’s way of clearing mucus in the airways or getting rid of foreign materials such as allergens, irritating pollutants or secondhand smoke that enter the respiratory tract (the nose, throat, larynx, sinuses or lungs). Physicians divide coughs into three categories: • Acute cough is a cough that lasts less than 2-3 weeks. Most often it is caused by the common cold or other upper respiratory tract viral infections, bronchitis, pneumonia, allergies, asthma or sinusitis. • Subacute cough is a cough that lasts from 3 to 8 weeks. It is often caused by the same diseases that cause acute cough but becomes more serious if not treated. • Chronic cough is a