Keep this in mind: "The cough itself isn't necessarily different, but a cough in the setting of pneumonia-like symptoms is concerning," Khalilah Gates, MD, pulmonary and critical care specialist at Northwestern Medicine, tells Health. <\/i>Meaning you (and your doctor) should take into account other factors to see if you could, in fact, be dealing with pneumonia, like whether you have a fever and loss of appetite.<\/p>\n

The cough itself, though, can signal that something is off. "It is a new cough or a cough that has changed from the patient's usual cough that alerts physicians to investigate it further to figure out if there is a pneumonia," Dr. Sood says. Dr. Casciari adds that pneumonia coughs tend to sound "deeper" than regular coughs. <\/p>\n

As far as what you actually cough up with pneumonia, that can depend on what type of pneumonia you have and what stage it's in. With early-stage viral pneumonia, you may not cough up anything. But if your viral pneumonia has progressed or you're dealing with a bacterial pneumonia, it's likely to be "more productive of mucus," Dr. Casciari says. Meaning, you should be able to cough up something.<\/i> It can be greenish or yellowish in color, Dr. Casciari says.<\/p>\n

"Usually, patients with pneumonia don't cough forever and nothing happens—they cough and something comes out," Dr. Casciari says. In addition to mucus, a pneumonia cough can be bloody. "Blood-tinged mucus is always abnormal and needs to be diagnosed," Dr. Casciari says. "But a severe cough for any reason can cause a blood vessel to break and mucus to be blood-tinged."<\/p>\n