Suggest Treatment For Persistent Cough And Phlegm In The Chest

Posted on Sun, 19 Jun 2016

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

Sun, 19 Jun 2016 Answered on

Tue, 12 Jul 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : I have had hacking cough, phlegm in chest and sinuses, for about 5 days, although no fever. how can i tell if this is just a virus that needs to run its course vs something requiring antibiotics?

Answered by Dr. Harish Naik (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Most of the URTI are caused by viruses, investigation required to rule out secondary bacterial infection

Detailed Answer:
Hi
Welcome
I have gone through your query .
Most of the URTI are caused by viruses and do not require antibiotic, it only requires symptomatic treatment.

To confirm whether it is associated with secondary bacterial infection few investigation may be helpful. Like
Gram stain and appearance of sputum from a patient can be helpful in presumptive determination of the cause.
Culture of the sputum.
Culture of blood samples for bacteria,

Hope this helps. If you have any further questions, I'll be glad to clarify them.
Take care

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad