Suggest Treatment For Severe Cough And High Fever

Posted on Sun, 20 Nov 2016

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

Sun, 20 Nov 2016 Answered on

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : my 23 year old son has a heavy cough and he has also had a fever for the past 4 nights. He has been sweating very heavy with the fever at night.
He has been taking advil and also a Mucinex product. What might it be. Several people he knows and has been in contact with have had pneumonia within the last few weeks.

we are worried about that.

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (14 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
he has to be examined...

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

almost any respiratory tract infection may present this way so there is no way to distinguish between serious and trivial infections without clinical examination. There are some symptoms that may increase suspicions for pneumonia like shortness of breath, increased number of breaths per minute and pleuritic pain (that is feeling pain when taking a deep breath).

In any case, since he came into contact with patients who had pneumonia, it's better for him to be examined by a doctor, particularly if he had a high fever with rigor.

I hope you find my comments helpful!
Please contact me again, if you'd like any clarification or more information.

Kind regards!

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