The main symptoms of a chest infection can include: a persistent cough coughing up yellow or green phlegm (thick mucus), or coughing up blood breathlessness or rapid and shallow breathing wheezing a high temperature (fever) a rapid heartbeat chest pain or tightness feeling confused and disorientated You may also experience more general symptoms of an infection, such as a headache, fatigue, sweating, loss of appetite, or joint and muscle pain.