What's the difference between white mucous and yellow-green mucous?

[Speaker_for_the_Dead]

I’m a little sick, and when I blew my nose one nostril was pretty easily cleared of a white/transparent mucous, while the other was much harder to blow. When I cleared it, the mucous was viscous and yellow-green. Why such a difference? What is that difference?

[Skammer]

I’m looking forward to the answer too… I’ve always heard that clear/white mucous = allergy/nasal irritant but greenish/yellow = illness/infection. However, I’ve been recently informed that this is an old wives’ tale. So what’s the dope?

[beagledave]

From an ER doc

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/nov99/941408275.Me.r.html

There is not much clinical significance to the different colors of throat
mucus. Although clear is the normal color, yellow, white, and green mucus
all usually indicate infection-fighting cells in the mucus. Brown mucus
usually indicates some blood mixed in with the mucus; this is pretty
normal with any irritation of the throat. The different colors do not
help to decide whether a sore throat is a virus infection or Strep throat
(which is a bacterial infection).

FWIW…when I have chronic sinusitis, my mucous is green or yellowish green.

[Smeghead]

Incidentally, it’s “mucus”. Mucous is the adjective, mucus is the noun. As in “mucous membranes produce mucus.”

I’m probably the only person in the world for whom this is a pet peeve.

[Podkayne]

Wow, this is a hard topic to get information about! I was googling around, and I kept find resources that say one thing or another about green snot, and then go on to say, “Homeopathy is an easy, safe and effective way to treat colds,” or “While the medical establishment perpetuates the myth that sinus infections cause green nasal discharge, it has been scientifically proven that your body produces mucus to flush toxins from the body, and bacteria in the mucus merely serve to ‘biodegrade’ these poisons,” or “While colds are caused by a virus, influenza is caused by possession by demons.”

Okay, maybe not so much the last one.

[OslerKnew]

[QUOTE=beagledave]
From an ER doc

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/nov99/941408275.Me.r.html

This quote cited is indeed right on target. Mucus is mostly made up of mucin, which is a glycoprotein (glucose and protein entity), and in the usual state is clear/or nearly colorless. With infection (either bacterial or viral) it is the cellular debris and byproducts of the immune system response that causes color change in the mucus.

[BobT]

@Smeghead

Incidentally, it’s “mucus”. Mucous is the adjective, mucus is the noun. As in “mucous membranes produce mucus.”

I’m probably the only person in the world for whom this is a pet peeve.

Well you don’t have to get snotty about it.

[Johanna]

The snotgreen sea.

—James Joyce, Ulysses

[myskepticsight]

I know when mine’s green, I go to the doctor and she gives me sweet sweet amoxicillin. To treat a sinus infection. Then a couple days later I feel better.

[don_t_ask]

The green stuff grows naturally but the white stuff isn’t exposed to sunlight.

No wait, that’s asparagus.

[Revtim]

Taste?

No, that’s thermometers.