Still coughing — are you still infectious?
6/2/202618 min
Cold season is upon us, so it’s no wonder you’re side-eyeing that person coughing on the bus.
But does a cough mean someone is still infectious? How do you know you’re in the clear to go back to work?
Norman and Tegan talk through the science, and also how attitudes have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic.
References:
- How Long Does a Cough Last? Comparing Patients’ Expectations With Data From a Systematic Review of the Literature
- Acute cough in outpatients: what causes it, how long does it last, and how severe is it for different viruses and bacteria?
- Estimating influenza latency and infectious period durations using viral excretion data
- Duration of viral infectiousness and correlation with symptoms and diagnostic testing in non-hospitalized adults during acute SARS-CoV-2 infection: A longitudinal cohort study
- How the pandemic shaped presenteeism trends between healthcare and non-healthcare workers using the Korean working conditions surveys (2010–2023)
- Sickness Presenteeism in the Aftermath of COVID-19: Is Presenteeism Remote-Work Behavior the New (Ab)normal?
- Over‐the‐counter (OTC) medications for acute cough in children and adults in community settings
- Comprehensive evidence-based review on European antitussives
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsTegan Taylor· Host0:00
[upbeat electronic music] ABC Listen. Podcasts, radio, news, music, and more. [coughs] [laughs] Yuck. I wish you'd muted your mic before you did that. [laughs] Are you feeling a little under the weather, Norman?
Norman Swan· Host0:17
No, I just... You know, it's a bit like the yawning episode. Why when you start yawning do other people yawn? Why when you start coughing do other people cough? But that's actually not what we're gonna be talking about today.
Tegan Taylor· Host0:26
The reason you start coughing when other people cough is because they've coughed their germs on you, and you catch the virus they have. And I'm really glad that I'm a thousand kilometers away from you as we have this chat.
Norman Swan· Host0:35
I'm still coughing, am I infectious? Is the topic of this week's What's That Rash?
Tegan Taylor· Host0:39
It's the show where we answer the health questions everyone is asking. [upbeat music] And today's question comes from Jive. Jive says, "Coughs lasting weeks after a respiratory virus have always been annoying, but since COVID, going to work with a residual cough feels inappropriate, but also unreasonable to expect people to stay home for a month plus." Jive's asking, "How can we know for sure whether our residual cough is not infectious to others, and when is it okay to go to work?" So let's talk about coughing. What, what is coughing?
Norman Swan· Host1:14
So a cough is... I'm going to ex- explain the bleeding obvious here. [laughs] It's, it's a forcible expulsion of air, and it's... The, the main purpose is thought to be that to enhance the body's own mechanisms for getting rid