** Thanks for contacting with your health concern 1. Ss I m unable to examine you directly, thus mine symptomwise approach would have been: i. An ordinary cough with throat pain is the commonest symptom seen in general practice, but because symptoms are there for 3 weeks now, you should consult an ENT specialist who will inspect the throat with a good torch and tongue depressor to exclude any other pathology. [pharyngitis, laryngitis, and bronchitis] ii. The choice of antibiotic will vary from doctor to doctor and from locality to locality and if a cough worsens or duration increases consult a chest specialist for an immediate chest x-ray and other blood investigations like: - Hb%, WBC for eosinophilia - X-ray chest for TB, Pneumonia - If other investigations are normal, HIV test iii. make sure to adopt certain guidelines till you get an appointment: - Take mainly soft diet - rice, chapati, or phulka, with nonspicy vegetables. . Avoid fried foods like wada, samosa, dosa, pakodas, papad,namkeen and potato chips, avoid hotel food . Do not take any cold drinks, cold water, ice cream, chilled food from the refrigerator. . Avoid sour fruits like citrus fruits, grapes, take sweet fruits- bananas, papaya . Steam Inhalation and warm salt water gargles. . Cover the mouth while coughing (using hand or handkerchief) to prevent the spread of infection to other family members.