The most common reason for coughing up blood is a chest infection. Where a specific cause is found, the most common causes include: pneumonia - a swelling (inflammation) of the tissue in one or both of your lungs usually caused by an infection with a germ (bacterium or virus)
Infection Bacterial, viral infections such as Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, or Aspergillus fungal infections can cause sore throat with bloody sputum.
What Is Hemoptysis? Hemoptysis is the term for coughing up blood or bloody mucus from your respiratory tract (lungs and throat). It's not the same as bleeding from your mouth, throat or gastrointestinal tract, though it may look similar. Blood can appear bubbly since it includes air and mucus.
Blood that comes up with a cough often looks bubbly because it is mixed with air and mucus. It is most often bright red, although it may be rust-colored. Sometimes the mucus contains only streaks of blood.
Infection
Infections caused by viruses such as influenza or bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus may well be the reason why you're coughing up blood in the morning. This may also happen due to a fungal infection caused by fungi such as Aspergillus species.
Most of the time, coughing up phlegm isn't a cause for concern. It helps clear irritants and infections from your lungs. But if you cough up phlegm when you're not feeling sick, it could mean you have a more serious underlying health condition. It can also tell you a lot about what's going on with your body.
In some cases, doctors can't find a cause, but the hemoptysis usually goes away within 6 months.
Stomach acid that returns, or "refluxes," back into the esophagus from the stomach can cause irritation and inflammation of the esophagus (esophagitis) that may lead to bleeding.
Spitting blood out of the mouth or blood in the mucous is not a symptom typically associated with acid reflux. In severe cases of reflux, when the esophagus is severely inflamed, you can get severe reflux esophagitis or even esophageal ulcers.
Blood that you cough up often looks bubbly or frothy and is mixed with mucus or spit. It can appear pink, red or rust-colored and is usually in small amounts.
If a cough brings up phlegm or mucus it is called a productive cough and could suggest pneumonia, bronchitis or the flu. The color of the mucus can signal a more serious problem. You should see a doctor if your cough brings up yellowish-green phlegm or blood.
Postnasal drip refers to excess mucus that someone may feel in the back of the nose and throat, causing a constant need to clear the throat. It may lead to symptoms, such as a sore throat and trouble swallowing. Environmental triggers, such as allergies, cold weather, or dry air, may cause postnasal drip.
It is important to call a doctor if the phlegm does not improve after a few days. An antibiotic may be necessary to treat an underlying bacterial infection. Anyone with pink, red, brown, black, or frothy mucus should contact their doctor or go to the local emergency room for an evaluation.
Sputum may be referred to as phlegm or mucus. All terms are correct, but sputum and phlegm only refer to the mucus made in the respiratory system (lungs and airways). Sputum (phlegm) is a type of mucus. Mucus can also be made elsewhere in the body, such as the urinary or genital tract.
Red or pink phlegm can be a more serious warning sign. Red or pink indicates that there's bleeding in your respiratory tract or lungs. Heavy coughing can cause bleeding by breaking the blood vessels in the lungs, leading to red phlegm.
Also known as hemoptysis (he-MOP-tih-sis), coughing up blood, even in small amounts, can be alarming. However, producing a little blood-tinged sputum isn't uncommon and usually isn't serious.
Blood coughed up from the lungs is bright red and frothy. Children may feel a tingling in their throat or a gurgling in the chest before coughing up blood. If you or your child is coughing up small spots of blood, call 111. If you're coughing up more than a few spots or finding it hard to breathe too, call 999.
One of the reasons internal bleeding is so dangerous is because the bleeding itself is not visible. It is hard to ignore a bleeding cut or wound on the outside of the body. But it can be easy to overlook bleeding deep inside the body until it begins to cause life-threatening symptoms.