Information on the Common Cold, Cough, and Flu

Cold, Flu, and Cough

What Is Cold, Flu, and Cough

The common cold is a term used to describe viral infections of the upper respiratory tract (throat and sinuses). People with the common cold might experience stuffy/runny nose, sneezing, cough, congestion, and fever. Even though the common cold is a consistently viral infection, it is not always caused by the same virus, making vaccinations and eradication nearly impossible. The flu is a similar but more severe respiratory infection. It affects your lungs as well as your nose and throat, often causing more severe symptoms. It is important to note that “the flu” is different from “the stomach flu”, which is a viral infection that more directly targets the gastrointestinal tract and can result in severe vomiting and diarrhea.

Many times, a cold or flu is accompanied by an acute cough that typically goes away after two to three weeks. A cough, an “expelling” of air from your lungs, is a normal way to keep your throat and airways clear. Coughs can be either dry or productive (meaning they bring up mucus). If your cough lasts longer than three weeks or grows worse, you should see a doctor. It may be a sign of a more serious condition.

What Causes Cold, Flu, and Cough

Risk Factors For Cold, Flu, and Cough

Diagnosing Cold, Flu, and Cough

Symptoms of Cold, Flu, and Cough

Prognosis

Living With Cold, Flu, and Cough

COLD

According to the federal Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), you should take these steps while you have a cold:

Stay home from work or school. If you’ve got a cold, you don’t want to infect others.
Get rest and drink a lot of water.
Avoid close contact with others; no hugging, kissing or shaking hands.
Cough or sneeze into a tissue and throw it away; if you haven’t got a tissue, cough into your shirt, completely covering your mouth and nose.
Wash your hands after coughing, sneezing or blowing your nose.
Disinfect frequently touched surfaces, including doorknobs and toys.
Over – the – counter medicines may help relieve symptoms, but they won’t help your cold go away more quickly. Talk with your doctor about the right medications for you. The federal Department of Health and Human Services recommends the following measures when you have the flu.
Get plenty of rest
Drink clear fluids such as water, broth, sports drinks and electrolyte drinks.
Place a humidifier in your room to make breathing easier. But be sure you change the water daily and clean the humidifier regular so it doesn’t become a source of bacteria and mold.
Gargle salt water (a 1:1 ratio of salt to warm water) to soothe your throat.
Use a blanket to ward off chills.

FLU

The federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommends the following measures when you have the flu:

Get plenty of rest.
Drink clear fluids such as water, broth, sports drinks and electrolyte drinks.
Place a humidifier in your room to make breathing easier. But be sure you change the water daily and clean the humidifier regular so it doesn’t become a source of bacteria and mold.
Gargle salt water (a 1:1 ratio of salt to warm water) to soothe your throat.
Use a blanket to ward off chills.
Over – the – counter medicines may help alleviate symptoms; there are also some prescription drugs that help combat flu. Talk with your doctor about the right medications for you. Tell him or her about all the medications you are already taking. Many prescription and over – the – counter medicines have the same ingredients, and so you are at risk of taking a higher dose than you should unless you talk to your doctor.

Screening

Prevention

Because colds and flus are so easily transmitted, avoid close contact with anyone who is ill. Hands are one of the primary modes of cold and flu transfer. The CDC offers a step – by – step guide for proper hand hygiene during flu season:

Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap.
Be sure to lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice.
Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.
Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.

You should wash your hands at the following times:

Before, during, and after preparing food
Before eating food
Before and after caring for someone who is sick
Before and after treating a cut or wound
After using the toilet
After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has used the toilet
After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing
After touching an animal, animal feed, or animal waste
After handling pet food or pet treats
After touching garbage

If you don’t have access to soap and water, use hand sanitizer. Use a product that has at least 60 percent alcohol. Rub the sanitizer over your hands and between your fingers until your hand is dry. Sanitizers can help reduce the number of germs, but will not eliminate germs entirely. Sanitizers can also help create more resistant bacteria, so they should be used sparingly when possible.

For protection against the flu, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says that everyone should get an annual flu vaccine beginning at six months old. There are also some antiviral medications you can take if you’re healthy but have been exposed to a person with the flu. These medications are prescription pills, liquids, or inhalers. The HHS says there are four antiviral drugs approved for treating the flu in the United States – oseltamivir (Tamiflu), zanamivir (Relenza), amantadine (Symmetrel), and rimantadine (Flumadine). According to HHS figures, antiviral drugs are 70 percent to 90 percent effective in preventing flu. Ask your doctor if you think you need antiviral drugs.

Medication And Treatment

COLD

According to the National Library of Medicine (NLM), cold medicines can treat symptoms, making you feel better, but they don’t shorten a cold. However, the NLM says, taking zinc supplements within the first 24 hours of a cold may reduce symptoms and shorten it. Ask your doctor about which cold medicines are safest for your child, even if the medicine is labeled for children. The main types of cold medicine include:

Decongestants. Decongestants shrink swollen nasal passages, making it easier to breathe. Brand names include:

Chlor-Trimeton Nasal Decongestant
Contac Cold
Drixoral Decongestant Non-Drowsy
Elixsure Decongestant
Entex, Genaphed
Kid Kare Drops
Nasofed
Seudotabs
Silfedrine
Sudafed
Sudafed 12-Hour
Sudafed 24-Hour
Sudafed Children’s Nasal Decongestant
Sudodrin
SudoGest
SudoGest 12 Hour
Suphedrin
Triaminic Softchews Allergy Congestion
Unifed

Decongestants shouldn’t be used by people who have high blood pressure unless they are under a doctor’s supervision.

Antihistamines work by blocking the release of histamines during an allergic reaction. (A histamine is a substance released during an allergy reaction that makes blood vessels more vulnerable to the allergen.) Some antihistamines can induce drowsiness.

According to the Mayo Clinic, antihistamines that tend to cause drowsiness include:

Diphenhydramine (Benadryl)
Chlorpheniramine. (Chlorpheniramine is a key ingredient in Chlor-Trimeton)

The following antihistamines are less likely to cause drowsiness:

Cetirizine (Zyrtec)
Desloratadine (Clarinex)
Fexofenadine (Allegra)
Levocetirizine (Xyzal)
Loratadine (Alavert, Claritin)

Additionally, there are antihistamine/decongestant combinations such as Allerest and Actifed.

Nasal sprays can also relieve stuffy noses. The NLM cautions against the use of OTC nasal sprays for longer than three days on and three days off unless you are told otherwise by your doctor, because overusing them may lead to you building up a resistance to them that requires greater amounts for them to be effective. OTC nasal sprays include:

Afrin
Neo-Synephrine
Dristan
Nasacort
Mucinex

You can also get relief by using a simple OTC saline (salt) spray.

FLU

Antiviral medications. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), there are four approved prescription antiviral medicines. They are available in pills, liquids and inhalers and are used to prevent or treat flu viruses. The following antiviral medications are approved for adults and children one year or older:

Oseltamivir (Tamiflu)
Zanamivir (Relenza)
Amantadine (Symmetrel)
Rimantadine (Flumadine)

OTC remedies like acetaminophen (Tylenol) and ibuprofen (Advil) can reduce pain and fever. Treatment for the flu should be given within the first 48 hours of symptoms.

COUGH

If your cold or flu is accompanied by a cough, the following medications may help you:

Expectorants. Cough medicines that are designed to break up mucus, suppress coughs or soothe throats. The ingredient guaifenesin, which loosens mucus, is found in OTC medicines such as Robitussin. (Experts advise drinking lots of fluids if you take this kind of medicine.) Other liquid expectorants act via the ingredient dextromethorphan. (These include Vicks 44 and Delsym.)

Cough Suppressants: These are classified as antitussives, meaning they suppress (block) coughing. These medicines should be used, experts say, for a dry cough, not for a productive cough – i.e. one that produces mucus. Cough suppressants include Delsym Cough Suppressant and Mucinex DM.

Throat soothers. Throat lozenges can help lessen the discomfort of a sore throat. They include Halls, Cepacol and Chloraseptic.

Complementary and Alternative Treatment

COLD

Although there are several well – known “natural” treatments that are said to help cold sufferers, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a division of the National Institutes of Health, cautious that there isn’t much scientific evidence to back up the claims. Here’s what the NCCAM has to say about these

Zinc. If taken orally, zinc can help treat colds, but may also cause side effects (such as nausea and gastrointestinal symptoms) and interact badly with medicines, including antibiotics and penicillamine (a drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis). Used over a long period of time at a high dosage, it can also cause copper deficiency. Zinc is available in oral form (e.g., lozenges, tablets, syrup) and intranasal (e.g., swabs and gels). The NCCAM says that a 2011 analysis of clinical trials found that oral zinc can help reduce length and severity of colds when it’s taken within 24 hours after the onset of symptoms. The study also found that the number of colds in children could be reduced if they took it at low doses for at least five months. But beware of intranasal zinc, which has been linked to an irreversible loss of the sense of smell. Intranasal zinc shouldn’t be used at all, the NCCAM says. Talk to your health care practitioner about whether zinc is right for you or if you are planning on giving it to a child.

Vitamin C. No matter what you’ve heard, the NCCAM says Vitamin C doesn’t prevent colds and only slightly reduces a cold’s duration and severity. In 2010, the NCCAM says, a review of literature did find that taking vitamin C regularly (without having a cold) does result in a small improvement in symptoms. But in studies in which people took vitamin C only after they god a cold, there was no improvement in symptoms. Vitamin C is generally considered safe, but megadoses can lead to nausea and diarrhea.

Echinacea. Although widely promoted remedy, the herbal supplement echinacea hasn’t been sufficiently proven to prevent or treat colds. What’s more, the NCCAM says, echinacea products vary widely; they can contain different parts and preparations of the echinacea plant. There is limited evidence that some, though not all, echinacea preparations may be helpful in treating adult colds. There are only inconsistent results of echinacea’s effects on children. There haven’t been many side effects reported, the NCCAM says, although some people can have an allergic reaction. Children who took part in one echinacea trial showed an increased risk of developing rashes.

Probiotics The NCCAM says there’s little evidence to prove that probiotics, a “good” bacteria, can help prevent colds. Probiotics are available as dietary supplements and in yogurts. They are also available in suppositories in creams. There’s still not much known about taking them for long periods of time. The NCCAM says that while there appear to be only mild gastrointestinal side effects such as gas, people with serious health problems shouldn’t use probiotics without being monitored by a health-care provider.

FLU

According to the NCCAM, there is no evidence that any alternative treatment is effective against the flu.

Cold, Flu, and Cough

What Is Cold, Flu, and Cough

What Causes Cold, Flu, and Cough

Risk Factors For Cold, Flu, and Cough

Diagnosing Cold, Flu, and Cough

Symptoms of Cold, Flu, and Cough

Prognosis

COLD

FLU

Living With Cold, Flu, and Cough

COLD

FLU

Screening

COLD

FLU

Prevention

Medication And Treatment

COLD

FLU

COUGH

Complementary and Alternative Treatment

COLD

FLU

When To Contact A Doctor

Questions For A Doctor

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