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Cough

Name of Symptom/Sign:
Cough
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ICD-10 R05
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ICD-9 786.2
OMIM {{{OMIM}}}
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DiseasesDB {{{DiseasesDB}}}

A cough is a sudden, often repetitive, spasmodiccontraction of the thoracic cavity, resulting in violent release of air from the lungs, and usually accompanied by a distinctive sound. Coughing is an action the body takes to get rid of substances that are irritating the air passages. A cough is usually initiated to clear a buildup of phlegmin the trachea; air may move through this passage at up to 480 km/h(300 mi/h) during a contraction. Coughing can also be triggered by a bolusof food going down the trachea instead of the esophagus, due to a failure of the epiglottis, although this may result in chokinginstead. Frequent or chroniccoughing usually indicates the presence of a disease. Provided the patient is a non-smoker and has a normal chest X-ray, the cause of chronic cough in 93% of all patients is due to asthma, reflux (heartburn) or post-nasal drip. Other causes of chronic cough include chronic bronchitisand medications such as ACE inhibitors. Coughing can happen voluntarily as well as involuntarily.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

  • 1 Complications
  • 2 Treatment
  • 3 See also
  • 4 External links

Complications

In severe cases, prolonged coughing can cause fatigue fractures of lower ribs and costochondritis, an inflammationof the connective tissue between the breastbone and the ribs. It can also lead to fainting spells when coughs are prolonged and forceful.

Treatment

Coughs can be treated with cough medicines. Dry coughs are treated with cough suppressants (antitussives) that suppress the body's urge to cough, while productive coughs (coughs that produce phlegm) are treated with expectorants that loosen mucusfrom the respiratory tract.

See also

  • Whooping cough
  • Kennel cough
  • Cough medicines, including expectorants
  • Charles Ingram-famously accused of using coughing to cheat on Who wants to be a millionaire?

External links

  • FamilyDoctor.org – Chronic cough: causes and cures
  • Asthma cough treatmentsde:Husten

es:Tos fr:Toux he:????? io:Tuso ja:咳嗽 it:Tosse nl:Hoest pt:Tosse tr:Öksürük zh:咳嗽 sv:Hosta




This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cough Wikipedia article Cough.

 
  All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License