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Airlines to cough up millions in refunds and fines over delays and cancellations

Frustrated travellers subject to major delays or cancellations to their US flights could be entitled to a portion of $US 600 million ($NZ 978 million) in refunds from six airlines forced to refund their customers. The airlines have been ordered to pay back customers by the US Department of Transport as part of “historic enforcement actions”. Under US law, customers must be refunded by airlines or ticket agents if the airline cancels or significantly changes a flight to, from or within the US and they don’t want to accept the alternate offer. The department also ordered the airlines to pay a total of $US 7.25 million ($NZ 11.83 millIon) in fines for “extreme delays in providing refunds”. “When a flight gets cancelled, passengers seeking refunds should be paid back promptly. Whenever that doesn’t happen, we will act to hold airlines accountable on behalf of American travellers and get passengers their money back.” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/more-600-million-refunds-returned-airline-passengers-under-dot-rules-backed-new" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a press release</a> shared on Monday. “A flight cancellation is frustrating enough, and you shouldn’t also have to haggle or wait months to get your refund.” According to 7News.com.au, the refunds apply to both US and international travellers. The fines and refunds vary from airline to airline, with the affected airlines including: <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Frontier Airlines - ordered to refund $US 222 million ($NZ 362.2 million) and pay $US 2.2 million ($NZ 3.6 million) in fines </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Air India - to pay back $US 121.5 million ($NZ million) and fined $US 1.4 ($NZ 2.3 million) </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> TAP Portugal - with refunds totalling $US 126.5 million ($NZ 206.3 million) and fines of $US 1.1 million ($NZ 1.8 million) </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Aeromexico - to refund $US 13.6 million ($NZ 22.1 million) and pay $900,000 ($NZ 1.4 million) in fines </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> El Al - due to pay $US 61.9 million ($NZ 100 million) in refunds and $900,000 ($$NZ 1.4 million) in fines </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Avianca - with total refunds of $US 76.8 million ($NZ 125.2 million) and a fine of $US 750,000 ($NZ 1.2 million) </li> </ul> Most of the fines will be paid to the Treasury Department, with the remainder to be credited based on airlines paying customers beyond the legal requirement. According to Blane Workie, the assistant general counsel for the Office of Aviation Consumer Protection DOT, the refunds have either already been made or customers should have been informed of them. Image: Getty Images

International Travel

The “unlikely culprit” worsening lung disease unequally

Bronchiectasis (bron-kee-ek-tah-sis) is a chronic lung disease caused by widening of the airways in the lungs. As well as making breathing more difficult and coughing more common, it can lead to repeated flare-ups of lung infections. An international team of researchers based in Singapore has identified a bacteria, previously thought harmless in the lungs, that can be responsible for bronchiectasis flare-ups. According to their paper in Cell Host & Microbe, Neisseria bacteria, and specifically the species Neisseria subflava, worsens bronchiectasis. Neisseria are known to cause meningitis and gonorrhoea, but while they’d been found in lungs, they’ve previously not been thought to cause infections. “This discovery is significant because it can change how we treat our bronchiectasis patients with this bacterium,” says senior author Professor Sanjay Chotirmall, a researcher from the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine at Nanyang Technical University, Singapore. “Doctors will now need to think about Neisseria as a potential ‘culprit’ in patients who are worsening despite treatment, and to conduct tests to identify those who may be harbouring this type of bacteria in their lungs.” While it affects people of every age and ethnicity, bronchiectasis prevalence increases as age does, and it’s up to four times more common among Asian people than white or black people. “We hope that early identification will lead to personalised therapy, and consequently, better disease outcomes for Asian patients with this devastating disease,” Chotirmall says. The researchers examined the lung microbiomes of 225 bronchiectasis patients from Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Dundee, in Scotland. They found that Neisseria subflava “dominated” the microbiome of Asian patients with worsening conditions. They then tested this bacteria in cell cultures and mice, showing that it caused cell disruption and thus inflammation and immune disfunction in lungs. “It is encouraging to see that we have made headway in identifying the Neisseria bacteria species as the cause of worsening bronchiectasis, the unlikely culprit that was originally not considered to be a threat,” says co-author Professor Wang De Yun, from the National University of Singapore’s Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. “This comes as a strong reminder that we should not be too complacent when it comes to doing research and exercise more proactiveness in exploring various possibilities, as every seemingly innocent element could be a source of threat to our bodies and overall health.” This article originally appeared on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/bronchiectasis-lung-disease-bacteria/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by Ellen Phiddian. Image: Shutterstock

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Man charged after "coughing" on co-workers and giving them COVID-19

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text redactor-styles redactor-in"> A 40-year-old man from Majorca has been arrested on assault charges after allegedly infecting more than 22 people with coronavirus. The man refused to isolate himself at the requests of his colleagues and continued to work out at the gym while displaying COVID-19 symptoms. An investigation by police into the man's behaviour began at the end of January. "Days before the outbreak was revealed, the worker began to present symptoms compatible with the disease, so his colleagues began to worry as they observed that he was not well," a police statement said. Police allege that the man was "coughing loudly all over the place" and lowering his mask at work. "I'm going to give you all the coronavirus," the man allegedly said to his colleagues. The man was tested for coronavirus but decided to go to his gym and workplace instead of isolating, resulting in the infection of eight people. The people directly infected from the man, which were five at his workplace and three at the gym, then passed the disease onto their loved ones. This includes three babies being infected with COVID-19. "The worker was arrested as the alleged perpetrator of a crime of injuries and yesterday he was placed at the disposal of the Judicial Authority," the police said. None of the people infected by the man have been admitted to hospital. </div> </div> </div>

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Coughs on film and the fine but deadly art of foreshadowing

Movie characters – like Greek heroes – are typically faster, stronger, braver and better looking than those of us in the audience who stare on in admiration. We watch as obstacles are overcome and goals achieved, attracted by the <a href="https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/asu/f/Bazzini_Doris_1999_Are_the_Beautiful_Good_in_Hollywood.pdf">beauty and goodness</a> in the cinematic story world. But, should movie characters cough as they go about their extraordinary business, you can just about guarantee they will be dead before the end of the film. The screen cough, it seems, is fatal. In the time of COVID-19, the screen cough takes on new significance. A low budget Canadian film <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-52232382/coronavirus-seven-people-stuck-in-a-lift-then-one-coughs">made early this year</a> is thought to be the first movie about coronavirus. It features a woman getting into a lift with others and the confrontations that ensue when she starts coughing. More than a tickle From Marguerite Gauthier (played by Greta Garbo) in the 1936 movie <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028683/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Camille</a>, to Boris Shcherbina (Stellan Skarsgard) in the HBO series <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7366338/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Chernobyl</a> (2019), coughing on screen has deadly significance. In the dramatic opening moments of the first episode of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4786824/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Crown</a> (2016), there is only darkness and silence … until we hear the sound of a dreadful hacking cough. Fade in to reveal King George V (Jared Harris, who also coughed in Chernobyl) in his bathroom, looking concerned. He coughs some more. Terribly sorry, your Majesty, but you’ll be dead before the end of Episode 2. Satine (Nicole Kidman) coughs in Moulin Rouge (2000) Nicole Kidman, as Satine in Baz Luhrmann’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203009/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Moulin Rouge</a> (2001) coughs on page 35 of the screenplay. Well, she has been singing and dancing vigorously in front of Christian (Ewen McGregor) in a steamy Parisian nightclub, so perhaps it’s just a question of fitness. “Oh, these silly costumes” she says to those gathered around her, in an attempt to explain her breathlessness. But it’s neither the clothes nor the exertion: the screen cough means she is doomed to die 83 pages later, in her lover’s arms, afflicted like Garbo’s Marguerite with tuberculosis. The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mijaVWfKhKU">sound of a cough opens</a> Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598778/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Contagion</a>, currently one of the world’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/03/06/contagion-streaming/">top streaming titles</a>. That cough belongs to Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) and, sure enough, she doesn’t make it very far into the movie. The virus that takes her to an early screen grave also infects Erin Mears (Kate Winslet) who coughs while on the phone to her boss (Laurence Fishbourne). His look is enough to confirm our fears and within a few scenes her lifeless form is being zipped into a body bag. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet) coughs in Contagion (2011). Many others have succumbed to the <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IncurableCoughOfDeath">incurable screen cough of death</a>, including even Yoda in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086190/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Return of the Jedi</a> (1983). To be fair, Yoda is 900 years old and knows he’s about to die. “Soon,” he splutters to Luke Skywalker, “I will rest. Yes, forever sleep” and promptly becomes one with the Force. Selling it The screen cough is a phenomenon so well known by screenwriters that it’s become the subject of parody. Mitchell & Webb played with the trope in a BBC sketch named The Man Who Has A Cough And It’s Just A Cough And He’s Fine in 2008. Alec Baldwin went one step further on Saturday Night Live in 2009 with an actors studio-style breakdown on how to sell your impending death effectively, starting with the fateful cough. The <a href="https://snltranscripts.jt.org/08/08pcoughs.phtml">sketch</a> – First Coughs: Mastering the Art of Foreshadowing Your Character’s Death – starts with step one: say “it’s only a cold”. Sometime later, the actor should emphatically state, “I don’t need any damn doctors!”. The final step is complex but mightily effective: “cough into a handkerchief, notice that there’s blood on it, look around nervously, then quickly shove it back in your pocket and hurry on your way”. When I see these send-ups, of course I laugh, but with a tinge of resentment: parody is both celebration and humiliation. I can’t help but think that I’ll never again be able to see the beautiful & dramatic subtlety of a well placed screen cough without a snigger. The Man Who Has A Cough And It’s Just A Cough And He’s Fine (2008) Smoke signals The art of signalling a future event in narration is a literary device apparent in the earliest ancient stories. It comes in many forms, from prophesy, dreams and omens to portents and apprehensions. In the 4000-year-old poetic work, <a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-the-epic-of-gilgamesh-73444">Epic of Gilgamesh</a>, dreams predict the hero’s victorious battle with a great bull as well as his friend’s tragic death. Early in Sophocles’s play <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Oedipus-Rex-play-by-Sophocles">Oedipus Rex</a>, a blind prophet riddles the truth of the story to come. The Bible is full of prophecy, none more memorable than Jesus’s prediction in The Gospel of John that one of his disciples would betray him. Driven by our need for certainty, we value knowing what may lie ahead. Facing open time, with all its possibilities, takes courage and – from budgets to prayers – we seek to gain a sense of control over our future. It’s unsurprising that we find pleasure in stories where foreshadowing signals what will happen, from storytellers who sneak the future into the present. The ability to manipulate the direction of time is fundamental to sophisticated narration. Merely explaining what happens next – the way time works in real life – is not enough when it comes to entertainment. There’s nothing more tedious than a story that proceeds along the lines of “this happens, then this, then this” and so on. Novelist E. M. Forster – who wrote A Room with a View, Howard’s End and A Passage to India – famously <a href="http://publications.anveshanaindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/NARRATIVE-TECHNIQUE-IN-LITERATURE-WITH-REFERENCE-TO-E-M-FORSTER%E2%80%99S-WORKS.pdf">decreed</a> that this kind of primitive narration causes listeners to fall asleep or rise up to kill the storyteller. To avoid such a fate, skilled narrators use foreshadowing to create tension, build anticipation and hook the audience into a belief that there’s something of interest to follow. We instinctively know that everything in a story has been planned and the author has determined the destiny of each character, so we intuitively look for the signs and the structures that will take us towards closure, including moments of foreshadowing. They can be subtle and poetic (a storm or a shooting star), psychological (a character worrying about something that has yet to be revealed) or concrete, like the appearance of a deadly weapon. But common to all these forms of foreshadowing is that we see them as the future pointing backwards. The grief to come has caused the present storm; bad news the anxiety; the body at the end of the film requires the gun at the start. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPFsuc_M_3E">Alfred Hitchcock</a> knew only too well the importance of being able to play with time. Imagine four people seated at a table having a conversation about football for five minutes, when suddenly a bomb goes off. That’s five minutes of boredom followed by a surprise. What’s in it for the audience, says Hitchcock, is only “ten seconds of shock”. But take the same scene and show the audience the bomb at the beginning, and the conversation about football becomes an exercise in suspense and high anxiety. Orson Welles plays out this idea in the famous opening scene of Touch of Evil (1958), showing us a bomb set to go off in three minutes. It’s then hidden in the boot of a car that moves erratically through a busy crowd. We hold our breath wondering where the car will be when the time is up. Opening Scene of Touch of Evil (1958) The cough is a timebomb The screen cough is also the ticking of a bomb, leaving both character and audience unsure when it will go off. One of the most dramatic screen coughs occurs in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5027774/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri</a> (2017). It’s revealed early in the movie that police chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) has terminal pancreatic cancer, but it’s a brutal shock when he violently coughs blood over Mildred Hayes (Francis McDormand). In a strangely poignant sequence, writer/director Martin McDonagh opts for Willoughby to take his own life rather than let the disease run its course: he knows what lies ahead after that dreadful coughing incident. Storytellers have a delicate balancing act to maintain when it comes to foreshadowing. Too oblique or poetic and the audience struggles to see the connection between the signalling moment and the signalled event, or perhaps only recognises it retrospectively. Because the screen cough is linked to both a specific individual (the sufferer) and a specific outcome (death), it’s necessary to be subtle when using it as a narrative device. Perhaps we are now beyond subtlety. The combination of our current hyper-vigilance of respiratory symptoms and the increasing awareness of the function of the screen cough, risks it becoming a dreadful cliche, a trope in need of a innovative makeover. Like the good guys wearing white hats in Westerns, and detectives smoking excessively in film noir, it may just be time to give the screen cough a breather. Written by Simon Weaving. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-coughs-on-film-and-the-fine-but-deadly-art-of-foreshadowing-135697">The Conversation.</a>

Movies

Do you know what coronavirus cough sounds like?

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text "> As cases of coronavirus continue to rise across the world, many are unsure what the respiratory condition sounds like. It presents with two key symptoms, which are a cough and a fever. As it’s broken out in the middle of cold and flu season, it can be difficult to tell if you’ve got the normal flu or coronavirus. Radio 2 has shared audio clips of what the telltale dry cough sounds like. "The two main symptoms of coronavirus to look out for are a continuous dry cough and/or a fever,” said BBC’s Laura Foster. "If you're sneezing a lot, got a runny nose or a headache, you may be ill, but you've probably not got coronavirus. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> A lot of people asking for the Coronavirus explainers we're making to be put on all media platforms. Good news is they are! This is the sort of information we should be sharing regularly to take the pressure off health systems. Plus my acting is hilarious. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID2019?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID2019</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a> <a href="https://t.co/l304j6h1A1">https://t.co/l304j6h1A1</a> — Laura Foster (@misslfoster) <a href="https://twitter.com/misslfoster/status/1240615821438865408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 19, 2020</a></blockquote> "So how high a fever is a coronavirus one? And what exactly is a continuous dry cough? "Well, it's when you cough and there's no mucous or phlegm. There's basically no gooey substance in your tissue. And this is not the odd cough here or there. It has to be coughing regularly for no other reason, such as clearing your throat or smoking." "So how high a fever is a coronavirus fever? Well if you have one, you will know about it. Technically it's a body temperature of more than 37.8 degrees Celsius or 100 degrees Fahrenheit. But if you've not got a thermometer, basically you will feel hot, and your chest and back would be hot if someone touched you." Laura added: "If you have either of these symptoms, then you and everyone you live with needs to stay at home for two weeks.” </div> </div> </div>

Body

Why do I have a cough and what can I do about it?

Dry, moist, productive, hacking, chesty, whooping, barking, throaty. These are just some of the terms people use to describe their cough. While we’re deep into cold and flu season, it’s one of the most common reasons people see their family doctor. But what is a cough anyway? And what’s the best way to get rid of it? What is a cough? People can <a href="http://www.mattioli1885journals.com/index.php/actabiomedica/article/view/6182">cough on purpose or spontaneously in a protective reflex action</a>. The aim is to both protect the airways from material that shouldn’t be there (like dust) or to clear the secretions that come with respiratory diseases, such as the mucus and phlegm that come with colds and flu. Nerve receptors throughout the lungs, and to a lesser extent in the sinuses, diaphragm and oesophagus (food pipe), detect the irritant or mucus. Then, they send messages via the vagus nerve to the brain. The brain, in turn, sends messages back through the motor nerves supplying the diaphragm, chest muscles and vocal cords. This results in a sudden, forceful expulsion of air. Your cough may be a one off. Alternatively, you can have a run of repeated coughs, especially in <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/whooping-cough-pertussis">whooping cough</a>, which people describe as a bout, attack or episode. Which type of cough do I have? There are many different types of cough but no one definition that everyone agrees on. This can be confusing as patients classify their cough in descriptive terms like hacking or chesty, while doctors classify them on how long they last: acute (under three weeks), subacute (three to eight weeks) and chronic cough (more than eight weeks). <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1094553908001430?via%3Dihub">Neither of these approaches</a> tells us about the cause of the cough. Coughs can also be called wet or dry. <a href="http://jtd.amegroups.com/article/view/25427/19122">Officially</a>, you have a wet cough when you produce more than 10mL of phlegm a day. For people with chronic coughs, their cough can further be classified after an x-ray — either with lung pathology to indicate something like pneumonia or tuberculosis, or without signs of underlying disease (an x-ray negative cough). What caused my cough? Whether you have a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29080708">wet or dry cough</a> may tell you what has caused it. <a href="http://jtd.amegroups.com/article/view/25427/19122">A dry cough</a> indicates a non-infectious cough from conditions including <a href="https://www.nationalasthma.org.au/understanding-asthma/what-is-asthma">asthma</a>, <a href="https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/emphysema">emphysema</a>, <a href="https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/gord-reflux">oesophageal reflux</a> and <a href="https://bestpractice.bmj.com/topics/en-us/1209">upper airway cough syndrome</a>, previously called post-nasal drip. <a href="http://jtd.amegroups.com/article/view/25427/19122">A wet cough</a> is more common in people with sinus and chest infections, including influenza, bronchitis and pneumonia, and serious infections such as <a href="https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/factsheets/Pages/tuberculosis.aspx">tuberculosis</a>. A smoker’s cough is usually wet, as the precursor to chronic bronchitis. As it progresses, or when complicated with infection, larger amounts of mucus may be coughed up daily. Then there is a dry cough associated with a cold or flu that turns into a moist cough. People tend to describe this as “chesty” and it makes them worry the infection has moved to their lungs. Yet mostly their lungs are clear of infectious sounds when examined with a stethoscope. Even a small amount of mucus stuck around the vocal cords or back of the throat may produce a moist sounding cough. But this is not necessarily a wet or “productive” (producing lots of mucus) cough. <a href="https://coughjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1745-9974-2-1">One study</a> showed even doctors struggled to make an accurate diagnosis based only on the sound of the cough. Their diagnosis of the cough was correct only 34% of the time. For people with chronic “unexplained cough”, a common hypothesis is that cough receptors <a href="https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10.1164/rccm.200905-0665OC">become more sensitive</a> to irritation the more they are exposed to the irritant. These cough receptors are so sensitive that even <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20051447">perfumes, temperature changes, talking and laughing</a>may trigger the cough. People with <a href="https://bestpractice.bmj.com/topics/en-us/1209">upper airway cough syndrome</a> may feel mucus secretions moving down the back of the throat, causing them to cough. New evidence suggests the cough <a href="https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(19)31122-5/pdf">is caused by</a> the increased thickness of the mucus and slowness of that mucus being cleared by cilia (hair like structures in lining cells whose job is to move mucus along). This mechanism keeps the chronic cough going through a feedback loop I call the “cough and mucus” cycle. In other words, the more the throat is irritated by the sticky mucus, the more you cough, but the cough is poor at shifting the mucus. Instead, coughing irritates the throat and fatigues the cilia, and the mucus becomes stickier and harder to shift, stimulating further coughing. When coughing gets too much Coughing is hard work so no wonder you can feel physically exhausted. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7925902">In one study</a>, people with asthma coughed as many as 1,577 times in one 24-hour period. But for people with a chronic cough, it was up to 3,639 times. The high pressures generated in vigorous coughing <a href="http://jtd.amegroups.com/article/view/25427/19122">can cause</a> symptoms including chest pains, a hoarse voice, and even rib fractures and <a href="https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/hernias">hernias</a>. Other complications include vomiting, light-headedness, urinary incontinence, headaches and sleep deprivation. Chronic cough may also lead to people becoming embarrassed and avoiding others. Is it true? People still seemed surprised and worried when a cough persists after a cold and flu despite the fact cough outlasts other symptoms in most cases. When an <a href="https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=380082015528918;res=IELHEA">Australian study</a> followed 131 healthy adults with an upper respiratory tract infection, 58% had a cough for at least two weeks and 35% for up to three weeks. Then there’s the colour of your mucus. Patients and doctors commonly interpret discoloured mucus, particularly if green, as a sign of bacterial infection. But there’s <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02813430902759663">clear evidence</a> that the colour alone is not able to differentiate between viral and bacterial infections in otherwise healthy adults. <a href="https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/1/119">Another study</a> found that people with acute cough who coughed up discoloured phlegm were more likely to be prescribed antibiotics, but they did not recover any faster than those not prescribed antibiotics. When and how should I treat my cough? Due to the multiple causes and types of cough there is not room to cover this question adequately. A safe approach is to diagnose the disease that is causing the cough and treat it appropriately. For chronic dry coughs and coughs that last after acute upper respiratory tract infections, the cough is no longer serving a useful function and treatments can be targeted at breaking the cycle of irritation and further coughing. The evidence for effective treatments is patchy, but cough suppressants, steam inhalation and saline nasal irrigations, as well as prescribed anti-inflammatory sprays may help. A spoonful of honey <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22869830">reduces cough</a> in children more than placebo and some cough mixtures. It is thought that the soothing effect on the throat is the way this works. However, there is no good evidence for the effectiveness of commonly used over-the-counter medicine (cough medicine or syrup) to alleviate acute cough, yet they are still sold. Some contain drugs with the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25420096">potential to cause harm</a> in children, such as antihistamines, and codeine-like products. Recent expert panel reports <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0012369217314083">don’t recommend the use of these cough medicines</a> for adults and children with acute cough, until they are shown to be effective. When should I be concerned? It is fine to try to treat yourself, but if a cough persists or is bothersome, your doctor may be able to suggest or prescribe treatments to reduce your symptoms. If you cough up blood or are becoming more unwell, consult a doctor, who will investigate further. Children who cough up phlegm for more than four weeks <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28143696">have been found to benefit</a> from medical investigations and antibiotics. Written by David King. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/health-check-why-do-i-have-a-cough-and-what-can-i-do-about-it-119172">The Conversation</a>.

Body

Chocolate said to be effective cure for a cough

Good news for chocoholics and cough-sufferers worldwide. A European study has found that chocolate can be an effective method for treating coughs, and the delicious results have been backed by a leading respiratory medicine expert. The study involved over-the-counter cough remedies, some of which contained cocoa. Patients who took the medicine that contained cocoa reported significant improvement regarding their coughs and sense of sleeplessness within two days, while those who took conventional cough syrup had to wait a little longer to report the same results. While this all sounds too good to be true, the findings have been backed by Professor Alyn Morice, head of cardiovascular and respiratory studies at the University of Hull. Professor Morice told the Daily Mail, “Chocolate can calm coughs. I know that might sound like something out of Mary Poppins, but as an independent clinician who has spent years researching the mechanism of cough, I can assure you the evidence is actually as solid a bar of Fruit and Nut.” We’re only a week into 2016, but this is shaping into one of the good news stories of the year. We can’t wait to get our next cold! Related links: <a href="/news/news/2016/01/clever-dog-performs-a-handstand/">Watch gorgeous toy poodle perform a perfect handstand</a> <a href="/news/news/2016/01/alarm-clock-rug/">You won’t believe this new rug that’s an alarm clock</a> <a href="/news/news/2016/01/make-your-smartphone-battery-last-longer/">How to make your smartphone battery last longer</a>

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Airlines to cough up millions in refunds and fines over delays and cancellations

The “unlikely culprit” worsening lung disease unequally

Man charged after "coughing" on co-workers and giving them COVID-19

Coughs on film and the fine but deadly art of foreshadowing

Do you know what coronavirus cough sounds like?

Why do I have a cough and what can I do about it?

Chocolate said to be effective cure for a cough