What Are Colds?
Having a cold is one of the most awful parts of normal human life. Doctors call them Upper Respiratory Tract Infections (URTIs). They are caused by tiny bugs called viruses.
The most common virus is the rhinovirus, however, colds can also be caused by other viruses like adenoviruses, respiratory syncitial virus and others.
Small children seem to have them all the time and get between 10 & 20 colds per year. Children at primary school get around 6 or 7 a year.
By teenage years, you will only get 3 or 4 colds a year and most adults rarely get colds. It’s one of the good things about getting older!
When To Go To The Doctor With A Cold
You shouldn’t go to the doctor with every cold you get. You only need to go to the doctor with a cold if:
1. you have a sore throat only with no runny nose or cough. This may be tonsillitis or strep throat and might be cured with an antibiotic
2. your fever is very high or lasts for more than one week.
3. you get symptoms of asthma with the cold, such as a wheeze or tight cough
The Symptoms Of A Cold
These symptoms occur because the cold virus causes redness & swelling of all the linings of the nose, throat and upper lung airways, giving you that runny nose, sore throat and cough. Like all infections, these viruses also cause fevers.
A cold usually starts with a fever and then muscle aches, which last about 2 days. The sore throat comes after about 2 days, but thankfully only lasts a couple of days. The runny nose usually doesn’t start until about the 3rd or 4th day, and can continue up to a week. The cough usually comes last and can stay around for a week or so.
Cold viruses also affect other parts of the body – for instance the lining of your muscles & joints – which gives you the overall aches and pains you often get with a cold. But sometimes a cold virus can also affect your heart – called myocarditis. So you shouldn’t do lots of exercise when you have a cold. Also, a cold can set off asthma if you have it, so make sure you watch your asthma carefully when you have a cold.
What About Influenza Or “Flu”?
People often use the words cold or flu to mean the same thing. A head cold just has a runny nose, sore throat and fever, however, Flu is short for influenza – which is a much more serious infection that can make you ill for around 2 weeks. Influenza is caused by the influenza A or B viruses, which cause a lot of inflammation in muscles and joints and other organs of the body.
You catch influenza usually only in winter (whereas colds can come at any time). Sometimes you’ll hear about epidemics of influenza, which is where a lot of people come down with it at the same time. Influenza can be dangerous for old people or for young people with bad asthma. Children and teenagers with very bad asthma should have an influenza vaccination every year to avoid the infection.
How Do You Catch A Cold?
Everyone thinks that you catch a cold by getting wet or staying out in the cold. This isn’t true – cold & flu viruses are spread by droplets full of the virus getting into the air from an infected person – we call this “respiratory spread.” So if someone with a cold coughs or sneezes near you, you could catch their cold. Kissing someone with a cold can also give you the cold.
One bit of good news is that you can’t catch a virus that you have had before – because your immune system protects you. But there are over 150 types of cold viruses around.
When you are a kid, you pretty much catch every cold virus that you meet up with. By the time you are an adult, you have had over half the viruses around so you are immune to them.
How Do You Treat Colds?
OK, so what’s the good news about treatment? Well sorry there isn’t much! Cold viruses are not killed by antibiotics, so there is no point in taking them for a head cold.
The other bit of bad news is that you really can’t prevent colds. Some people swear by Vitamin C or garlic – but there is no scientific evidence that they do any good. However, you can make yourself feel a lot better with a cold by taking some medicines. Remember, don’t take any medicines without your parent’s knowing about it.
1. To bring your temperature down, take paracetamol (acetaminophen) every 4 hours. It’s very safe to take for the 2 to 3 days that the fever usually lasts. If you are over 12 years old, you could use ibuprofen or aspirin instead.
2. To soothe a sore throat, use throat lozenges that contain anaesthetics (pain-killers). The paracetamol also helps your throat.
3. To stop your nose running, use nose drops or a nose inhaler containing pseudoephedrine. It also comes in tablets that you should take every 6 hours. You can only use this for 3 days at a time; then you should stop.
4. Take cough mixture for the cough. Because it’s usually a dry cough, ask your pharmacist for a medicine that settles dry coughs.
