Health care benefits and services from the Veterans Health Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs | 810 Vermont Avenue, NW Washington DC 20420. Last updated January 23, 2017
Hello Rebecca. The yellow discharge from your nose could have been due to infection or chronic common cold. It is common knowledge that infection turns the secretions yellow. But a clear yellow discharge may not necessarily mean infection . Long standing cold can lead to thin yellow discharge.
Green or yellow snot doesn't always need antibiotics. Snot is the mucus that comes from the nose. When your immune system is fighting a cold virus, one of the first symptoms is a clear runny mucus from the nose. As the cold develops, the mucus can become thicker and yellow, and then green. Infection-fighting blood cells cause the change in colour and texture as they flood to the nasal area and increase in number as the cold progresses.