[Progress in the pathogenesis of post-infectious persistent cough]

Respiratory viral infection is a common cause of acute cough. After the cause has been cleared and the symptoms such as fever, nasal congestion and runny nose have been relieved, some patients still have persistent cough. These phenomena indicate that respiratory viruses may mediate cough hypersensitivity and lead to the occurrence of sub-acute or chronic cough. Cough response to viral infection is a protective strategy to prevent the spread of the viruses from the upper respiratory tract to other sites, but excessive coughing becomes a disease. In this review, we introduced the research progress in the pathophysiological mechanism of post-viral persistent cough or chronic cough.