Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Post viral cough
Introduction
Post-viral Cough is a lingering cough experienced following a viral respiratory tract infection usually a common cold or flu and lasting more than eight weeks. Post-viral cough is a clinically recognized condition represented within the European medical literature but is not mentioned in studies from America. Patients usually experience repeated episodes of post-viral cough. The heightened sensitivity in the respiratory tract is demonstrated by inhalation cough challenge.[1]
Cause
Cause
One possible cause for post-viral cough is that the receptors that are responsible for stimulating the cough during the respiratory tract infection continue to do so after the virus has disappeared, up-regulated by respiratory tract infection.
Differential Diagnosis of Post viral cough
Differential Diagnosis of Post viral cough
| Cardiovascular | No underlying causes |
| Chemical / poisoning | No underlying causes |
| Dermatologic | No underlying causes |
| Drug Side Effect | No underlying causes |
| Ear Nose Throat | No underlying causes |
| Endocrine | No underlying causes |
| Environmental | No underlying causes |
| Gastroenterologic | No underlying causes |
| Genetic | No underlying causes |
| Hematologic | No underlying causes |
| Iatrogenic | No underlying causes |
| Infectious Disease | No underlying causes |
| Musculoskeletal / Ortho | No underlying causes |
| Neurologic | No underlying causes |
| Nutritional / Metabolic | No underlying causes |
| Oncologic | No underlying causes |
| Opthalmologic | No underlying causes |
| Overdose / Toxicity | No underlying causes |
| Psychiatric | No underlying causes |
| Pulmonary | No underlying causes |
| Renal / Electrolyte | No underlying causes |
| Rheum / Immune / Allergy | No underlying causes |
| Trauma | No underlying causes |
| Miscellaneous | No underlying causes |
Treatment
Treatment
Post viral cough can be resistant to treatment. Inhaled steroids may work in some patients. Post-viral cough is usually treated the same way as a viral cough.