YOU can call it a runny nose, a touch of virus, or a contagious disease. It’s still the common cold. Every year adults typically have two to five infections, while children may have six to 10 colds a year (and up to 12 colds a year for school children).
Rates of symptomatic infections increase in the elderly due to a worsening immune system.
A cold, says the Mayo Clinic, is “an inflammation of the upper respiratory tract caused by a virus”. Many different viruses cause colds, but the rhinoviruses (of which there are 100 subtypes) are implicated more often than others.
Microscopic droplets of body fluid from secretions we breathe out all the time spread the viruses. Our hands, eyes, lungs and skin are in contact with them constantly. Many researchers believe that as we rub our eyes and touch our mouths and noses, we bring the virus into our bodies.
As stated earlier, the common cold is contagious. “You can get a cold by touching a person with a cold [for example, by shaking hands] and then touching your nose or eyes, or by touching a surface that a person with a cold has touched,” the University of Maryland Medical Center says. “Colds are also transmitted through the air, when someone with a cold coughs or sneezes.”
A person can also get it when he or she is handling a contaminated object. “Telephones, computers, toilets and doorknobs are especially notorious for harboring [common cold] germs,” writes Dr. Willie T. Ong in his book, How to Live Longer: Practical Health Tips From a Heart Doctor. Cold virus, he adds, can live up to 48 hours on the aforementioned objects.
“A cold is most contagious in the first one or two days after symptoms develop,” The Merck Manual of Medical Information notes. “Becoming chilled does not cause colds, nor does in increase a person’s susceptibility to infection. A person’s general health and eating habits also do not seem to affect susceptibility to infection, nor does having an abnormality of the nose or throat.”
Although the common cold has only been identified since the 1950s, it has been with humanity since antiquity. Its symptoms and treatment are described in the Egyptian papyrus, the oldest existing medical text. The name “cold” came into use in the 16th century, due to the similarity between its symptoms and those of exposure to cold weather.
• Economic burden
Since the disease is so common, no one seems to pay attention to its economic impact. In the US, it has been found that the common cold leads to 75 million to 100 million physician visits annually at a conservative cost estimate of $7.7 billion per year. Americans reportedly spend $2.9 billion on over-the-counter drugs and another $400 million on prescription medicines for symptomatic relief.
That’s just for starter. More than one-third of people who saw a doctor received an antibiotic prescription, which has implications for antibiotic resistance. An estimated 22 million to 189 million school days are missed annually due to a cold. As a result, parents missed 126 million workdays to stay home to care for their children.
“When added to the 150 million workdays missed by employees suffering from a cold, the total economic impact of cold-related work loss exceeds $20 billion per year,” wrote the authors of the study. “The economic burden of non-influenza-related viral respiratory tract infection in the United States.”
• Symptoms and complications
The signs and symptoms of common cold are too familiar to need much description. A severe cold is not much different at first from a mild case of influenza (more popularly known as flu) in this respect. It begins with a moderate fever and aching, usually with sneezing and a watery discharge from the nose. Later, the fever and aching worsen and the discharge becomes thicker and whiter, finally turning yellowish before it starts to dry up.
“What sets a cold apart from other viral infections is the lack of high fever,” the Mayo Clinic notes. “The temperature typically stays below 101 degrees Fahrenheit.”
While the common cold is not a serious disease, its complications can be. Infection of the middle ear (called otitis media in medical parlance), sinus infection, bronchitis and pneumonia can develop.
“The viruses themselves,” explains Dr. Harold Shryock, a noted physician who has written several magazine articles and books on health, “are not responsible for these complications; but the irritated tissues of the upper respiratory tract become vulnerable to invasion by common bacteria always present in the air passages, and these cause the complications.”
As viruses cause the common cold, it cannot there be treated with antibiotics. “Not only is antibiotic treatment of colds ineffective and a waste of money, it can also be harmful,” declared Dr. Anne Gadomski of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Maryland.
A health survey conducted by the Geneva-based World Health Organization has shown that in the Philippines, 32 percent of cold cases were given antibiotics. This is alarming as antibiotics can have side effects, which complicate an illness that, otherwise, would have gotten better on its own, Gadomski pointed out.
“Unnecessary use of antibiotics can also lead to antibiotic resistance, which is a growing problem worldwide,” Gadomski wrote in an article published in ARI News, an international forum for the exchange of news and views on acute respiratory infections.
The lady physician also noted that since colds are common, the misuse of drugs to treat them may result in a shortage of essential drugs when they are needed to treat life-threatening illnesses, such as pneumonia. “Reducing misuse of drugs could reduce costs and ensure a better supply of antibiotics for children who really need them,” she pinpointed.
• Home remedies
As drugs are no match against the cold viruses, why don’t you try some tested and proven home remedies? After celebrating my birthday recently, I came down with a whopping cough caused by the common cold. I asked my mother what were some of the remedies she tried before. She enumerated several things, but what struck me most was when she suggested making some chicken soup.
Researchers at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach found that hot chicken soup, either because of its aroma or its taste, “appears to possess an additional substance for increasing the flow of nasal mucus”. These secretions—what comes out when you blow your nose or sneeze – serve a first line of defense in removing germs from your system, the researchers say.
If you have cough and cold, medical experts say that it’s important to drink plenty of fluids, including hot tea, water, juice and even milk. However, stay away from drinks that contain caffeine, like coffee and soft drinks, as they can dehydrate you.
There’s probably no worse cold or cough symptom than a sore throat. When you eat, it hurts. When you drink, it hurts. When you breathe, cough or sneeze, it hurts. “Keep your throat moist,” WebMd suggests. “Drink plenty of those fluids and when you’re not eating, suck on cough drops. If you don’t have cough drops, a piece of hard candy will do in a pinch.”
Another suggestion: “Try gargling with salt water to keep your throat moist. If you don’t want to use salt water, you can make a thicker mixture of hot water and honey. Just make sure that the water has cooled before you gargle with it. You can also gargle with tea that contains tannin.”
Let’s talk about that stuffy nose, the main symptom of common cold. “If breathing through your nose is a chore, inhale steam, either from a pot of boiling water, a hot shower or that bowl of Mom’s chicken noodle soup,” WebMd advices
Again, gargling with salt water is good for the throat, and rinsing with salt water is just as good for the nose.
At night, sleep on two pillows instead of one. The angle will provide relief to the sinuses and you’ll breathe easier while you sleep. If sleeping on two pillows is too uncomfortable, place the extra pillow or a few rolled up towels underneath the mattress.