Question about sudden coughing bouts?!

Question about sudden coughing bouts?

Well a few days ago (around 4 days) my boyfriend started to cough out of nowhere.. he was not previously ill or had fever or cold symptoms. Since the first day it started, the cough has gotten gradually worse. He was coughing up small bits of phlegm but he doesn't now. He doesn't choke or "whoop" when he coughs, but I heard that whooping cough has about a 2 week incubation period before the person starts to have coughing attacks where they choke and sometimes "whoop" (take deep breaths inbetween coughs to try and breathe). As I said before, he shows no other signs of illness and seems to be completely healthy other than his cough, which only seems to be a bit of an annoyance to him.

When he does cough, sometimes its very much like any person would do, very light and nothing serious. Other times he coughs quite loud (but there is no sound of phlegm or something blocking his airway, its just the sound of a normal cough, not a sickly cough).

1 month ago
Only rarely does he ever seem to need to stop a second after coughing to take a breath. What is causing this? Allergies? WC in incubation? is it something I should be concerned about?

Cough is a symptom with many etiologies. It is impossible for me as a lung specialist to give you advice on what it could be or what to do without proper evaluation. This does not sound to me like is a transient symptom.

Pertussis (whooping cough) is rarely seen, but indeed is present in the US. The patients normally go through what appears a "cold" followed by a period of paroxysmal cough a few days later. Pertussis is easily diagnosed and treated.

Do your BF a favor. Take him to a physician. Somebody has to at least take a listen to his lungs, perhaps do other appropriate testing.