Table 3 Diagnosis criteria for postinfectious cough

● Cough that has been present following symptoms of an upper respiratory tract infection;

● Irritable dry cough or cough with small amounts of white mucus;

● Cough lasts for at least 3 weeks, but normally no longer than 8 weeks;

● Negative findings of chest radiograph;

● Negative results of bronchial provocation test and dilation test;

● Exclude other causes which could result in cough, such as upper airway cough syndrome(UACS), cough variant asthma(CVA), eosinophilic bronchitis(EB) and gastroesohageal reflux disease(GERC);

● Exclude severe pulmonary diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD),lung cancer, pulmonary tuberculosis, et al.;

● Exclude hypertension that involves use of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor(ACEI) currently.