Posts Tagged ‘common cold’
Are colds contagious?
Are colds contagious?
Colds are contagious during the first 2 to 4 days after the onset of symptoms. Your can catch a cold by inhaling virus particles spread through the air by sneezing or coughing or by direct contact with another person. If your child touches their mouth or nose after touching skin or another surface contaminated with the rhinoviruses that cause colds, it is likely to be caught a cold.
Is it possible to prevent colds?
Since many viruses can cause colds, there is a vaccine to prevent them. But to help prevent infection or transmission of colds, their children:
* try to steer clear of anyone who is smoking or is cold. Virus particles can travel up to 12 feet (3.7 meters) through the air when someone with a cold coughs or sneezes. Moreover, the smoke exhaled by a smoker makes children more prone to disease.
* wash your hands thoroughly and frequently, especially after blowing your nose.
* cover nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing.
* avoid sharing towels or eating utensils with someone with a cold. Nor should drink the same glass, can or bottle than other people, it is impossible to tell if someone is about to fall cold and is already spreading the virus.
* not pick up other people’s used tissues.
Researchers are not sure whether taking extra zinc or vitamin C may limit the duration of cold symptoms or severity, but large doses taken every day can cause negative side effects. The results of most studies on the effectiveness of herbal remedies such as echinacea, are negative or inconclusive and there have been few properly designed scientific studies to evaluate these treatments in children. Talk to your child’s physician before deciding to give it a herbal remedy or a dose exceeding the recommended daily dose of any vitamin or supplement.
How long can a cold?
The cold symptoms usually appear 2 or 3 days after your child has been exposed to an outbreak of infection. The increased capacity of transmission occurs during the first three or four days after onset of symptoms, but his son can continue to spread over a period of up to three weeks. While one in four colds lasting up to two weeks, most go away within a week.
Common Cold Symptoms
Runny nose, sneezing, sore throat and annoying cough, we all suffer at some time during a common cold. As children reach as many as eight or more colds per year, this contagious viral infection that affects the upper respiratory tract is the most common infectious disease in the United States and the main reason for consulting the doctor and from school.
What causes colds?
Most colds are caused by rhinoviruses (the name comes from the Greek word rhin, meaning “nose”) that are in invisible droplets in the air we breathe or on things we touch. There are over 100 different rhinoviruses ability to penetrate the protective lining of the nose and throat, triggering an immune reaction can cause sore throat, headache, or your child make it difficult breathe through the nose.
Dry air-inside or out – can lower your child’s resistance to infections caused by viruses that cause colds. Smoking or being around a smoker has the same effect. Smokers are more likely to catch a cold than nonsmokers, and it is possible that symptoms are more severe, longer lasting and more likely to lead to bronchitis or even pneumonia.
But while the old stories say otherwise, no one has a cold for not wearing a jacket or sweater when fresh, for sitting or sleeping in a drafty place, or out with wet hair.
What are the symptoms my son?
The first symptoms of a cold are often a scratchy throat, runny or stuffy nose and sneezing. Perhaps children with colds also have a sore throat, cough, headache, mild fever, fatigue, muscle aches and appetite loss. The secretions from the nose of your child may change from watery to thick yellow or green.
Posted in Flu and Cold | 
Tags: common cold, Common Cold Symptoms, common infectious disease | 
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