Effective cough is important for the smoker, as it helps clear excessive mucus from the airway. Smoking cessation is the only fully effective treatment for chronic cough due to chronic bronchitis in a smoker. Smokers should be aware, however, that cough is also an important symptom of lung cancer, which is primarily a disease of smokers. Bronchiectasis Cough is one of the most important symptoms of bronchiectasis, a lung disease in which the bronchial tree is dilated and chronically colonized by bacteria. Bronchiectasis is most likely to occur in persons with cystic fibrosis and persons who have multiple respiratory infections, especially in childhood.
Effective cough is essential for the person with bronchiectasis.
Chest physiotherapy and drugs to stimulate clearance of mucus are accompanied by intermittent courses of antibiotics to keep lung infection in check. Postinfectious Cough Cough that persists for 3 or more weeks as the only symptom after a viral upper respiratory tract infection may be a postinfectious cough. This cough due to persisting inflammation after infection will usually go away in time, but medical treatment may ease discomfort. In this case, antibiotic treatment should be given to the persons with this bacterial infection and to all persons who were exposed to pertussis. Suspicion of lung cancer is an indication for diagnostic tests including chest x-ray, bronchoscopy, and examination of sputum for presence of cancer cells.