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March 2016 | Read this issue and more at www.healthandwellnessmagazine.net |
Facts and Myths About
Colds and Flu
Which ‘old wives tales’ are true?
By Angela S. Hoover, Staff Writer
Colds and flu
are as common
as sliced bread.
They make us
feel miserable,
and the seven to14 days (on average)
it takes them to run their course seem
like an eternity. With something so
ubiquitous to living, many myths and
“old wives tales” spring up … and
endure. As these untruths persist,
many interesting facts about colds
and flu are overlooked.
First, some interesting
facts to ponder:
Influenza Loves Droughts
Drought conditions bring many
birds together to a limited water
source. This is a recipe for higher
transmission of illnesses. The West
Nile virus was particularly virulent
in 2012, the same year there was
a drought. Urban environments
undergoing a drought bring birds and
insects compactly together, intensifying influenza.
Sentinel Chickens Are Our
Canaries in the Mine
Public health officials keep sentinel chickens in small flocks in the
countryside. This domestic breed of
chicken detects viruses transmitted by
mosquitoes, such as West Nile. When
these chickens are infected, they
make antibodies and recover. Health
officials regularly check the chickens
to determine if a virus is spreading in
their particular region.
Semi-Deadly Flus Are
More Dangerous Than
Super-Deadly Flus
The more severe a flu epidemic
is, the less dangerous it is, simply
because public health workers will
become vigilante warriors in trying to
stop its spread. Flus with a 2-percent
kill rate, such as the 1918 influenza
virus, are more dangerous because
they can easily remain under the
radar longer.
Cats Can Get the Flu
The H5N1 bird flu caused many
big cats in the wild who fed on infected chicken carcasses to get sick. Even
zoo animals in Taiwan were getting
the illness. Likewise, domestic house
cats can also get the flu – but there’s
no known case of cat-to-human transmission and vice versa.
Pigs Can Get Sick …
And Make Us Sick
Of all the animals, pigs are our
biggest worry when it comes to the
flu. The genetic material of the flu
virus is organized in eight distinct
and separate bits. If one cell in a pig
lung gets infected with two different flu viruses, the viruses can just
“repackage,” creating bits of different packages in new viruses. This
is precisely what happened with
the 2009 swine flu; there was an
American and a Eurasian swine flu
virus, and these two viruses came
together and repackaged to create a third swine flu virus that was
extremely infectious for humans.
A Modern-Day Flu Pandemic
Would Cost a Fortune
In case of a pandemic, people
would stop flying, which would affect
the tourist and hotel industries. In
fact, any industry that involves people
gathering in public would suffer. This
happened during the SARS outbreak,
and the economic loss is estimated
to be around $50 billion. But SARS
only affected a few East Asian areas
and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If
a flu pandemic were more globally
widespread, the cost is estimated at
around $300 billion.
A Bird With the Flu Can Be
Eaten…As Long As It’s Cooked
It doesn’t take much to kill the flu
because it is easily broken down or
displaced. The flu survives well in
water, although there are no known
cases of anyone catching the flu
through water. There is no evidence
that flu can spread by any other
means than respiratory routes, hands
and nose. This is why the best advice
to avoid infection is to frequently
wash your hands and stop touching
your face.
It’s Unlikely There Will Be a
Recurrence of a 1918-type
Pandemic
Unlike the beginning of the 20th
century, we are incredibly better at
monitoring diseases and reacting
quickly. We now have a global network of influenza centers with better
technology. Also, most people in
1918 died from a secondary bacterial
infection and we now have antibiotics
for that.
Here are some
commonly held myths
about colds and flu:
@healthykentucky
because both cause similar symptoms, but the flu causes more severe
symptoms than the cold. These
include fever, body aches, extreme
tiredness and dry cough. The common cold is more likely to produce a
runny or stuffy nose.
Starve a Fever
This is the opposite of what your
body needs at this time. A fever is
the body’s normal reaction to try
to fight a cold or flu virus, and the
fever is completely unrelated to food
intake. It’s best to drink more fluids
and maintain your normal caloric
intake.
Dry Heat or Cold Makes
You Sick
Weather conditions cannot cause
a cold or flu. Dry weather con ][ۜ