After a viral pharyngitis (w dry cough), my son developed strep. ped prescribed atb but hes done with it and stil has some episodic dry cough (never when sleeping). ped said its normal. for how long should we consider it normal (no other symptom)?

A cough is a natural reflexive act the body uses to bring debris/mucus from deep areas of the lung to the outside. It can persist until all lung linings are healed, which may take a month. If night cough persists past a month, it can be a sign of mild cough varient asthma which would show up on lung function testing.

It is very common after about a viral pharyngitis to have a lingering cough. It can last weeks. As long as no other symptoms are present and the problem seems to be getting better, I wouldn’t worry about it. Good luck.

The dry hacking cough wasn't caused by the strep infection but was part of the original viral respiratory tract infection that migrated to his trachea&possibly bronchial tubes. However continuing dry cough is caused by residual tracheal irritation& is not continuing infection. The more he coughs,the more the trachea is irritated. I recommend a cough suppressant at this time as long as no infection