Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: thedoc on 11/02/2014 11:57:46

Title: Discuss: Is green snot better than yellow?
Post by: thedoc on 11/02/2014 11:57:46

Does the colour of your snot signify the severity or stage of your cold?
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Title: Re: Discuss: Is green snot better than yellow?
Post by: snowyco on 21/02/2014 18:46:12

Green and yellow mucus color suggests you might need antibiotic treatment.   The green color is generally caused by an enzyme (myeloperoxidase), released by white blood cells (neutrophils) dying as your body attempts to fight a bacterial infection.     Colorful mucus does not always mean you have a harmful bacterial infection,  but a recent study found green sputum had harmful bacteria in it 59 out of every 100 times. 

In the same study, yellow sputum had harmful bacteria in it 46 out of every 100 times.

The results of this study showed that green mucus coughed up from patient's lungs had harmful bacteria more frequently than yellow mucus.   Still,   there were at least 40 times in 100 when colorful mucus was not caused by harmful bacteria.