I Am Smoker. Having Flu Symptoms, Noticed Blood In Cough. What Should I Do?

Posted on Thu, 2 Aug 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 2 Aug 2012 Answered on

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : had the flu and now coughed up some blood and i am a smoker and 39yrs old.have never coughed blood before i got the flu have had 2 cigs today and am trying to stop.the blood is bright red and have XXXXXXX mucas aswell. thanks

Answered by Dr. Mayank Bhargava (-5 hours later)

Hi,

Thanks for posting your query.

How much amount of blood you get during coughing?

There are 2 possibilities for blood in your cough.

1) Smoking induced pathology such as chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis, and malignancy. You should go for chest x XXXXXXX and if needed CT/ MRI scan chest. Do you have other symptoms apart from hemoptysis? You should also consult with physician/ pulmonologist.

2) After/ during flu episode, because of edema in bronchi/ bronchioles mucosa, blood vessels underlying mucosa may get ruptured with presence of blood in cough. This type of hemoptysis is short lasting and not a seroiu condition

Put your query if you have.

Thanks,

Dr. Mayank Bhargava

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar