Common Cold Prevention: Tip To Protect Yourself, Your Children And Others

The common cold is an umbrella term that we use to define a condition of sore throat, cough, congestion and running nose. More than one billion cases of the common cold are registered in the United States each year. There are more than 200 types of viruses that can cause effects on the body.

What Causes Common Cold?

The common cold is an infectious viral disease that spreads quite easily between people of all ages. However, we see that children are affected by the common cold many times more (6 to 8 times) when compared to adults (2 to 4 times) in a year. We can attribute the larger numbers to the active life of children, socializing with other kids, and the infectious nature of the disease.

Rhinovirus is responsible for 30-50% of all colds and it can stay outside the body for up to 48 hours without dying. This makes it easy for the virus to infect the body slowly if not immediately. The virus travels through droplets from one host to another through physical contact or inhaling air from the sneeze or cough of an infected person.

Once the virus enters the new host through their mouth or nose, it attaches itself to the lining of the nose or throat. In response to the virus attack, the body’s immune system soon begins to work and starts producing more mucus to flush out the virus. Since the body uses a lot of energy to fight the virus, the host feels tired and is weakened in the process

Common Cold Prevention Tips – How To Stay Protected!

 

Common cold prevention is all about minimizing contact with the virus. Here’s how!

Avoid direct contact with people who are sick: Close contact with infected people is a sure way to get yourself infected. But even when you are not in direct touch, an infected person can transmit the virus through sneezing and coughing. When a person sneezes, the particles can travel up to 0.6 meters in the range at a rate of 4.5 meters per second. So if you are in the vicinity of someone with a common cold, get some distance between you and them when they gear up for a sneeze.

Wash your hand properly: 80% of infectious diseases are spread through touch. So there is no doubt when it comes to the importance of keeping your hands clean and hygienic. A combination of soap and water will do the trick just fine. However, if it’s not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

Lead a healthy lifestyle: When you have a vigilant and capable immune system, viruses find is nearly impossible to compromise your body. To have a functioning immune system, you must give your body the necessary nutrition, sleep and exercise. In essence, keep up a healthy lifestyle!

Keep your house clean: Bodily hygiene does less to keep you healthy if you living in a space that is not hygienic, especially if someone in the house has recently had a cold. Use a house-cleaning solution that has disinfecting qualities to ensure that it removes the germs and bacteria.

Avoid touching your face: When you are out, your hands will be in contact with different objects and they might transfer harmful germs to your hand. Things are good as long as you wash your hand, but when you touch your face, the virus can get into your system via your nose, mouth or eyes.

Use disposable items for the sick: If anyone in your home has been affected with the common cold, give them disposable cups or plates for having food. Instead of cloth towels, use paper towels as they are easy to dispose and cloth towels run the risk of harboring viruses for a long time.

Wash the toys: If your child has been infected with the common cold, then wash the toys too so that there are no traces of the virus left to initiate another attack. You can also extend this practice to any object that the child uses frequently.

Do not smoke: Smoking weakens your throat and lungs. This makes things easier for the virus as smoking lowers the resistance offered by the organs to the virus. Some reports suggest that smoking lowers the immune response of the body.

Cure For Common Cold

The common cold is the reaction of the body to a virus. There are no antiviral drugs against common cold viruses. In other words, there is no cure for the common cold. Antibiotics are ill-advised unless there is a bacterial infection.

The best thing that you can do to accelerate the healing process is to REST. When the body is fighting against the virus, it expends a ton of energy. This is the reason why people who are affected with common cold seem very tired or weak.

Therefore, when you have a common cold, give your body ample amounts of rest and takes a break from your daily routine. This is very important and not paying heed to the body’s requirement at times like these will aggravate the disease into something far worse.

The two best things you can do during cold us to rest and stay hydrated.

Common cold usually cure in 7 to 10 days. If you feel like your symptoms are getting worse rather than reside after a week, then seek medical attention immediately.

Safeguard Your Children Against Common Cold

Common cold and its symptoms can be very taxing of children. This is always a worry for parents. And Bee Well El Paso Pediatrics is all about taking those worries away. Book an appointment with Dr. Howze and she will be quick to help you with your child's health. Call, text us or use our website to book an appointment today! Let us help in keeping the community of El Paso safe!

 

 

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