Hi, may I answer your health queries right now ?  Please type your query here...a woman sitting in front of me on a plane recently had a loud hard cough, pulled her hair and picked at her scalp, brushed her hair (hard) for 30 minutes straight and could not sit still. Her companion was aware of this but made no comments. At first these actions were extremely annoying, but then we were worried for her. What might have been her medical problem>
Hi, Welcome to Chat Doctor. I have read your query and understand the problem of that girl. Her loud cough could be because of bronchitis (allergic or infective) or pertussis or might be a just one time hard cough etc. If she tends to cough louder and harder continuously the must be advised to investigate the underlying cause further because her coughing might be contagious. She may need to undergo routine blood count, ESR,sputum examination with x-ray chest and pulmonary function test to rule out any infective lung or respiratory pathology. She might require antibiotics (quinolones or accolades or amoxicillin with clavulanic acid) with cough suppressants anti-allergic Chat Doctor. Furthermore, she must consult your pulmonologist to get diagnosed first and then treatment.