Adam Tampio, 16, of Alexandria, Virginia, said he has had a “bad cough” since coming down with a cold in mid-December.
People are also commiserating about their persistent cough on social media like TikTok, Bluesky, and Threads. Brian Jun, 26, who lives in New York, complained about his persistent cough on TikTok last month. video It has been viewed over 7 million times. “Coughing in Georgia,” one viewer wrote. “Everyone is coughing in New Jersey,” another wrote.
Cases of persistent cough are not tracked in any official way, so it is impossible to know how this cough season compares to past seasons. But some doctors say they're seeing more persistent coughs than usual. Many of these patients have tested negative for coronavirus, and the cough may be a result of other circulating respiratory viruses.
natasha buyanThe national medical director and physician at primary care provider One Medical said “many of our members” were reporting persistent coughs that “just won't go away.” (Jeff Bezos, owner of the Washington Post, is the founder of Amazon, which owns One Medical.)
“This winter, it felt like a lot of these circulatory diseases peaked at the same time,” she says. “Everywhere we turned someone around, they had a cold, they had COVID-19, they had the flu.”
michael stevenThe pulmonologist at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia said his practice has been “basically taken over by patients who have persistent coughs.”
“My entire practice was basically hijacked,” says Stephen, who is also the author of .Take a breath: the power, vulnerability, and future of our extraordinary lungs” Stephen said patients may be coughing for a month or two at a time, which can put strain on the chest muscles.
“It's crushing them,” he said. “These people are coming in with baggy eyes, not sleeping, and torn muscles. By the time they get to me, their condition is not getting better.”
Are you coughing more, or are you just more conscious?
Some doctors say people may be focusing more on their coughs since the pandemic. Before the coronavirus outbreak, people routinely went to work or social gatherings coughing. Today, it's frowned upon.
Russell Barra respiratory and critical care medicine physician at UCLA Health in Los Angeles; It is estimated that 20 to 40 percent of adults with a viral infection develop a post-infectious cough that can last between two and eight weeks.
“I see it more often in practice than I did a few years ago,” Buer said. But he believes it's because people are “paying more attention” to coughs and other respiratory symptoms since the pandemic began. “Anyone is a little hesitant to show up to work with symptoms that resemble any kind of illness,” Buer says.
Ashwin VasanThe commissioner of New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, who is also a family physician, said New York health care providers receive “a plethora of questions from patients” about this persistent cough, even though it's a “post-viral cough.” He said that It's actually quite common. ”
“We are aware of what is being posted,” Vasan said. “For doctors like me, it's not at all surprising that post-viral cough exists, because post-viral cough always exists.”
Charles A. PowellThe system director of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York said it's very likely that “the incidence of these diseases is higher than before COVID-19.” He said that's why there are more patients. This persistent cough.
“The flu, the coronavirus, the rhinovirus, the common cold virus, all of these things are hitting us at the same time,” Powell said. “That makes it very common.”
Why does my cough persist?
It states that coughing is a “defensive reflex” meant to clear the lungs and keep the airways clear. peter dikupinigaitis, director of the Montefiore Cough Center and editor-in-chief of the journal Lung. When a viral infection causes a prolonged cough, that reflex “serves no protective or beneficial purpose whatsoever,” he says. “It's just a troubling symptom for the patient,” Dikupinigaitis said.
Cough that follows a respiratory virus infection is often “a sign of a lingering inflammatory response to the initial illness,” Buhr said.How long the cough lasts may depend on virus. He said that RSV infection can cause a “cough that lasts for several weeks.”
“You can think of it similar to when you get a sunburn. Your skin becomes even more irritated and sensitive,” Buhr said. “It's a similar concept inside the lungs, but with infection-related damage.”
See your doctor if your cough persists for more than a few weeks. “Usually it’s not something serious,” Buer said. “But we don't want you to suffer needlessly.”
Bhuyan said patients are advised to contact their doctor immediately if they have a high fever, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, dizziness or confusion, or other signs of worsening symptoms.
“The important thing is whether the symptoms are actually getting worse,” Bhuyan said. “At that point, they may have developed pneumonia or a bacterial infection or another type of infection.”
Additionally, people who have had a cough for more than eight weeks are “very likely” that their cough is not just due to a viral infection, and a “treatable underlying cause” needs to be diagnosed, Dikupinigai said. Tis said. He said some patients have had a cough for years. These chronic coughs, which last more than eight weeks, are caused by one of three conditions: asthma, acid reflux disease (also known as gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD), or postnasal drip syndrome. He said that there are many.
Have you become more prone to coughing due to the new coronavirus?
Gina Lee, 42, of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, said she recovered from a bout with COVID-19 in September, but developed a cough in late December after visiting her sister in Baltimore. “She went to the aquarium and she was so stupid she forgot to bring her mask,” she said.
Lee said she wonders if the persistent cough she just recently recovered from was related to her coronavirus infection in the fall. “Are we seeing an increase because of COVID-19? Or is everyone just being more aware of it?” she said.
Doctors say a more severe case of COVID-19 could affect how quickly people recover from subsequent colds and other respiratory viruses. Stephen said some patients take longer to recover from COVID-19, and as some people recover, other viruses may be more likely to infect their respiratory tract.
“COVID-19 has really changed things,” Stephen said. “I think the fact that it causes pretty significant bronchitis changes the immunology of the lungs for a lot of people.”
He also said that the new coronavirus infection is “a bit of an eye-opener.” Jiyad Al Alidirector of research and development at the VA St. Louis Healthcare System and clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis.
“We have a newfound appreciation that viruses that we have downplayed can actually have serious effects,” Al-Aly said, noting that influenza and RSV can both cause persistent coughs. He added that there is. “I don't think any of this is new. I think our awareness and documentation of it is new.”
How can I relieve a persistent cough?
Powell said there is “no silver bullet” for treating persistent coughs. Hydration and warm drinks can help and probably provide the same relief as over-the-counter medications and cough syrups.
Dikupinigaitis said the “thick, sweet” syrup may suppress coughs by calming the nerves at the back of the throat. Powell said if the cough persists, some patients may need other treatments that “directly impact the cough itself.”
“If drinking tea with honey makes you feel good and calms down, that's great,” Powell says.
