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НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ • Березень-Квітень 2025 39 OUR HEALTH Ihor Magun, MD, FACP A cough is our body’s way of removing “irritants” from both the upper and lower airways. These “irritants” are not always expectorated since spasm of the airway passages can induce a cough — i.e., asthma. Coughs are first characterized by their duration. Acute coughs last less than three weeks, sub - acute coughs last three to eight weeks, and chronic coughs last longer than eight weeks. Coughs can have distinct sounds. A barking sound is seen with airway inflammation and is most common in children. This is a viral disease; an example is croup. A whooping sound preced - ed by a violent type of cough is seen in pertussis, also referred to as the 100-day cough. This is a highly contagious vaccine-pre - ventable bacterial disease. Chil - dren are vaccinated, and it is recommended that adults who have contact with newborns and young children be revaccinated at an older age to boost their im - munity. Wheezing is a sound pro - duced when air passes blocked airways associated with asthma, Cough 101 infections, and airway passages congested with mucus. Common causes of cough in - clude the following: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a condition char - acterized by limitation of airflow due to damage from smoking. Post-nasal drip — mucus from nasal passages runs down into airways, triggering the cough re - flex to expectorate it. Allergic cough occurs when coming into contact with an al - lergen. Cough due to acid reflux — ir - ritation of the upper respirato - ry tract triggers the cough fre - quently associated with throat clearing and regurgitation. Medication-induced cough — blood pressure medication of the class ACE (angiotensin con - verting enzyme) can cause a dry cough even several months after the initial dose. Stopping this medication will stop the cough within one to four weeks. Obstructive sleep apnea — these individuals typically snore, stop breathing at night but then awaken, have a high body mass, and have a neck size greater that 17 inches. Asthma — cough may be the only clinical manifestation of this condition. Bronchitis — inflammation of the airways can be viral, fungal, or bacterial. There are many treatments available to improve or elimi - nate coughing. Assessment of cough depends on a number of issues as described above, and the workup may include an X-ray, spirometry (assessing the flow of air), bronchoscopy, endoscopy, nasendoscopy, and allergy test - ing. Of note, there are many additional tests and causes of cough, but the list above incor - porates the majority of causes. Make sure you address this con - dition with your physician for all the obvious reasons.
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