Green and cloudy: viral or bacterial infection A lot of the symptoms of viral infections – fever, cough, headache, loss of smell – overlap for COVID-19 and other viral infections like the flu, respiratory syncytial virus and the common cold.
If you are coughing green or yellow mucus, let your GP or health care provider know. If you are coughing up blood (or blood stained mucus), call your GP, the COVID-19 Care at Home Support Line or Healthdirect for further advice.
A dry cough is one of the most common coronavirus symptoms, but some people may have a cough with phlegm (thick mucus).
Some symptoms are more common in one condition than the other. For example, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing are more likely with COVID-19, while facial pain is more specific to a sinus infection.
Keep clearing the phlegm from your lungs to improve your lung condition and reduce the chance of getting chest infections.
Does coughing up mucus mean you're getting better? In most cases, coughing up mucus means your body is working to fight off an infection, and it is in the healing stages. Drink plenty of fluids to help thin the mucus.
Even if you're coughing up yellow or green phlegm, you might not need antibiotics. Your mucus color alone can't tell you if a virus or bacteria is causing your cough. If your cough lasts longer than 3 weeks, it's time to see a healthcare provider. You may need an X-ray or antibiotics.
“Normally, mucus is clear. When you have a cold or infection, it might turn green or yellow,” said Alyssa. Clear snot usually signals allergies or some kind of environmental factor that is triggering your nose to start running, such as inhaling dust or allergens.
Those with severe COVID-19 may remain infectious beyond 10 days and may need to extend isolation for up to 20 days.
Because COVID-19 is an illness caused by a virus, a COVID-19 sore throat may look and feel like other viral sore throats. One clue that you have viral pharyngitis is that it is often accompanied by other common symptoms.
You are most infectious (or contagious) in the first 5 days after your symptoms start. You can also spread COVID-19 in the 48 hours before your symptoms start. If you never have symptoms, consider yourself most infectious in the 5 days after you test positive.
During a common cold, nasal mucus may start out watery and clear, then become progressively thicker and more opaque, taking on a yellow or green tinge. This coloration is likely due to an increase in the number of certain immune system cells, or an increase in the enzymes these cells produce.
Most people with COVID-19 have a dry cough they can feel in their chest.
Green or Yellow Mucus
It's no reason for concern, and in fact, it means your body is working extra hard to fight off infection. White blood cells rush to battle infection, and when they've done their job, they get flushed out of the body along with the virus.
Like flu and COVID-19, colds are also caused by viruses and can be passed to others. Symptoms of a cold tend to be mild. You may have a runny nose, cough, congestion, and sore throat. But you won't usually have the aches and fever that are common with COVID-19 and flu.
We know that people tend to be most infectious early in the course of their infection. With Omicron, most transmission occurs during the one to two days before onset of symptoms, and in the two to three days afterwards.
A person may have mild symptoms for about one week, then worsen rapidly. Let your doctor know if your symptoms quickly worsen over a short period of time.
You may need to get tested even if you do not have symptoms. You can have COVID-19 and spread it to others even if you do not have symptoms. Your COVID-19 test can be negative even if you are infected. Most people do not test positive for the virus until days after exposure.
Bronchitis is an infection of the main airways of the lungs (bronchi), causing them to become irritated and inflamed. The main symptom is a cough, which may bring up yellow-grey mucus (phlegm). Bronchitis may also cause a sore throat and wheezing.
Yellow phlegm is a sign that your body is fighting off a mild infection. "White blood cells are responsible for fighting infections, and as they get picked up in the mucus, they can cause it to have a yellowish hue," says Dr. Kreel.
When you do cough up phlegm (another word for mucus) from your chest, Dr. Boucher says it really doesn't matter if you spit it out or swallow it.
Yellow mucus can indicate a bacterial infection in the nasal passages. This type of infection often requires antibiotics to clear up. If the yellow color is accompanied by thick and discolored nasal discharge, it may be a sign of a sinus infection.