It’s that time again - to hear the familiar coughing, sneezing and other symptoms of the common cold lurking out there this fall! How are colds spread? Well they grow mainly in the nose where they increase in number.  During the first 2-4 days (when germs are most likely to spread) they are found in the in nasal secretions.   

The common cold virus is most easily spread on contaminated fingers and hands after an infected individual “touches” or rubs their nose, eyes and/or various objects and surfaces. 

A recent review of thousands of patients studied was published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.  These studies looked at if you would receive benefit from taking daily Vitamin C (about 200mg/day).  Those who took daily Vitamin C did not see a reduction in suffering. 

However, those individuals who were “highly stressed” (for example, marathon runners) had about a 50 percent reduction in the number of days they suffered with a cold. 

Here are some avoidance strategies:

1. Don’t forget to wash your hands vigorously with soap and water for at least 20 seconds after touching various objects, surfaces or another person’s hands (it physically helps to remove cold viruses).

2. Avoid rubbing or touching your eyes and nose.

3. Avoid directly facing an individual who is coughing and sneezing.
 
3. Know that not all germicidal lotions will adequately kill cold viruses.

4. Use liquid hand sanitizers frequently, especially when hand washing is not possible.

5. Limit your exposure (even brief contact) to those “sufferers”, especially during the first several days of their cold symptoms.

6. Stay home when you are “infected” with a cold virus.

7. Indoor air purification may assist in reducing exposure and/or transmission of to airborne cold viruses, at least in some clinical studies. 

8 . Getting adequate rest and sleep,  as well as a balanced diet is a good first step in keeping your immune system from getting overly stressed and thus will be better prepared to fight off illnesses such as flu and colds.

 Dr. Clifford W. Bassett is an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the Long Island College Hospital and on the faculty of NYU School of Medicine.  He is the current vice chair for public education committee of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.  No information in this blog is intended as medical advice to any reader or intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition.

Health authorities said a 70-year-old woman died and a 57-year-old man is critically ill in a Boston hospital after each was given a kidney from an infected donor, reports The Boston Globe.

The kidney was infected with a hard-to-detect virus, health officials said, which came from a 49-year-old homeless man who suffered irreversible brain damage and cardiac arrest.

The donor carried a germ called lymphocytic choriomenigitis virus, which is most often transmitted by rodents and usually unnoticed by healthy people who do not suffer anything more than flu-like symptoms, according to the newspaper.

The virus also killed three transplants patients in Massachusetts and Rhode Island in 2005.

Organs perish quickly and they are tested for diseases such as AIDS, hepatitis and herpes, but not usually viruses such as lymphocytic choriomenigitis. And, since the demand for organs is so great, recipients will often take the organs of homeless people, the newspaper said.

New outbreaks in China reported Wednesday put the number of children infected with hand, foot and mouth disease above 15,000 and the death toll has risen to at least 28 across the country.

A 2-year-old girl in the southern province of Hunan died of the disease after being in a coma, the provincial health bureau said on its Web site.

Another death was reported in the neighboring Guangxi region, Guangxi health officials said but did not give any details. The official Xinhua News Agency said the victim was a 3-year-old boy who died May 3.

Two kindergartens in Beijing were temporarily shut down Tuesday after children there showed symptoms of the disease, Xinhua said. There have been 1,482 cases in Beijing, most in kindergartens, it said.

So far, 15,799 outbreaks of the disease have been reported throughout the country this year, Xinhua said.

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