Kids Cough Research

The symptoms usually last for at least two weeks or even longer to about several months. Each bout of coughing usually last a minute to two. Symptoms of these include:

Cold symptoms usually begin with a sore throat, which usually goes away after a day or two. Nasal symptoms, runny nose, and congestion follow, along with a cough by the fourth and fifth days. Fever is uncommon in adults, but a slight fever is possible. Children are more likely to have a fever with a cold.

An ongoing cough or a cough that produces large amounts of mucus (often called "smoker's cough")

A cough reflex clears up sputum from the nasal passages and pharynx. In the trachea there are cilia that move mucus up from the lungs. The mucus causes the cough reflex.

You have trouble breathing. Both adults and children can have tight, uncomfortable lungs and chest during a cold. A cough that won't go away could be postnasal drip, but it could also be a sign of asthma or acid reflux. Talk to your doctor about it. If there’s a barking (it actually sounds like a small dog), wheezing or whooping sound along with the cough, there could be an infection called pertussis that can be treated.

The disease is cystic fibrosis. The chronic wheezing, persistent cough and stuffy nose would be symptoms to test patient for cystic fibrosis. In cystic fibrosis, a defect in a gene changes a protein that regulates the movement of salt in and out of cells. The result is thick, sticky mucus in the respiratory, digestive and reproductive systems, as well as increased salt in sweat. Children need to inherit one copy of the gene from each parent in order to have the disease. If children inherit only one copy, they won't develop cystic fibrosis, but will be carriers and possibly pass the gene to their own children.

Whooping cough-Cold and cough symptoms. Cough will gradually get worse and after around 2 weeks the coughing bouts start. These will make it difficult for the child to breathe. The child may choke or vomit and may also get a whooping sound after coughing.

I have personally seen how fast the symptoms progressed in a 10-month old child whose symptoms started as a regular cough. Next day his body temperature went up to 104 for and kept coming back constantly for couple of days. Cough became painful and started sounding more like wheezing and child could not eat or drink anything. Two separate trips to emergency room resulted in bringing toddler’s fever down, but even with chest x-rays and physical examinations, they were unsuccessful in detecting pneumonia until 911 was called and paramedics detected low oxygen and severe dehydration. I was informed by the admitting hospital physician that without prompt fluids, oxygen and antibiotic treatments, this cold complication may result in child’s

Acute tonsillitis is inflammation of the tonsils secondary to an infectious process causing painful swallowing and is more commonly attributed to a viral cause rather than bacterial (Shepherd, 2013). A physical assessment of the tonsils may reveal an increase in size with edema and erythema. This is often associated with upper respiratory symptoms like, headache and cough (Shepherd, 2013). Another diagnosis is pharyngitis. Pharyngitis is also a sore throat which is secondary to inflammation noted at the back of the throat and associated with complaints of pain when swallowing (Shepherd, 2013). Viral pharyngitis is the most common and can be contributed to the rhino or coronavirus which lasts between 5-7 days and presents with associated symptoms like cough, headache, fatigue and mild fever (Ruppert & Fay, 2015). Finally, GABHS or more commonly noted as strep throat is a potential diagnosis. This bacterial infection is most common in children and adolescents. Often individuals present with symptoms including throat pain, fever, chills, headache, cervical lymphadenopathy and exudate noted to tonsils or in the pharyngeal (Ruppert & Fay, 2015). This infectious process in younger children may also present with gastrointestinal symptoms like nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain but is not accompanied by cough or nasal

The testing of your child's screening has come back. I am sorry to inform you that your child is suffering from Cystic Fibrosis according to the sweat test. Although your child has this, it is at an early stage and can be treated. Cystic fibrosis is a defect (mutation) in a gene that changes a protein that regulates the movement of salt in and out of cells (Cystic Fibrosis, October 2016). Your child may suffer from some symptoms like thick, sticky mucus in the respiratory, digestive and reproductive systems, as well as increased salt in sweat. A persistent cough that produces thick mucus, wheezing, breathlessness, exercise intolerance, repeated lung infections, inflamed nasal passages and/or a stuffy nose are common symptoms (Cystic Fibrosis Symptoms, 2018).

A health-issue known to be documented in the pre-school setting is pertussis, or better known as whooping cough (Kid Source Online, n.d.). Whooping cough, as it’s name implies, is a very communicable, infectious disease of the respiratory tract, which causes the child to make a “whooping” sound when trying to draw breath after a prolonged cough spell (Kid Source Online, n.d.). Nonetheless, not all children are known to make this said “whooping” sound while having this disease; thus, one must be aware of the general symptoms indicating whooping cough, which include, however aren't limited to, a runny nose and an extreme cough, both which gradually seem to only get worse, and perhaps can even end with the child profusely vomiting (Kid Source Online, n.d.). It is important to catch any symptoms of abnormal cold indications as soon as possible, as once the whooping stage begins, antibiotics can no longer help (Kid Source Online,

Based on the five-month-old baby’s symptoms, I believe that the first differential diagnosis would be Cystic Fibrosis (CF). She has the classic symptoms of Cystic Fibrosis which are foul- smelling, fatty diarrhea. According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders ([NORD] 2016), cystic fibrosis is a genetic disorder which affects multiple organs in the body. Cystic fibrosis is inherited and is caused by the mutations in the cystic fibrosis gene, transmembrane conductance regular. The abnormalities affect certain glands such as the exocrine gland which produces mucus causing abnormally thick secretions that can clog vital areas of the body and can lead to inflammation, obstruction, and infection. The baby’s coughing could be possible related to her thick mucus which is interfering with her ability to clear her airway.

There's no cure for the common cold. Antibiotics don't work against cold viruses. Treatment for the common cold in babies involves easing their symptoms, such as by providing fluids, keeping the air moist and helping them keep their nasal passages open through nebulization. Very young infants must see a doctor at the first sign of the common cold because they're at greater risk of croup and pneumonia.

some of these conditions are a fluid nose, sinus infections, reflux illness , sleep disorder and psychological stress.

According to Pratter, Brightling, Boulet, and Irwin, (2006), based on duration, cough can be divided into three categories: acute, lasting < 3