Background
At least in Britain you normally come across distinct kinds of cough medicine "chesty", "dry" and "tickly".
Questions
- Are "chesty", "dry" and "tickly" coughs always due to microoganisms?
- For the types of cough that are infectious, are differences due to different species of micro-organism or the same micro-organism at different stages of its development?
- Do the alternative treatments (e.g. levomenthol, squill, liquorice for chesty vs. glycerol for dry/tickly) merely deal with symptoms or do they actually help fight the infection?
Related
A related question is: What is the cause of dry cough?