Coughs and Colds

These seem to be common complaints for visitors to the Health Service at present. Viral infections of the upper respiratory passages are spread by the air, by any of a large number of viruses. Airborn means the bug is passed on to other people by coughing and sneezing without coming the mouth, or by not washing hands after using a handkerchief. To a certain extent you can avoid catching any of these airborn infections, but then even careful people catch colds.

The Common Cold is called common, because it is an ordinary, common complaint that is, until you get it yourself, when it becomes a special cold. The best thing to do with your special cold, is to keep it all to yourself - no one will thank you for passing it on. Since avoiding the spread of infecting droplets during the runny-nose stage is pretty difficult, it is better to have a day or two in bed if you can. One careless cold-owner can on average infect 12 contacts.

A common cold begins as a sore throat, and leads to a running nose, sneezing and nasal congestion and headaches.

Flu is more severe and is usually of rapid onset. Symptoms are fever, chilly sensations, headache, generalised body-aches, a dry cough, and sometimes the development of cold sores (herpes simples) on the mouth and lips.