Cold and Flu

influenza

Yes. The virus that causes the flu is very sneaky and you can be infected and pass the virus to others even before you know you are sick. The best defense is to avoid others who are sick and to wash your hands frequently.

There are literally hundreds of different things that can cause a high fever and a headache. You should take note of any other symptoms and contact your doctor if your fever goes over 103 degrees.

Your throat may hurt, but you will not lose your voice due to a strep infection.

A scratchy throat and hoarseness is almost always due to a virus, which means antibiotics will not help. While it is possible to have a bacterial strep infection and viral laryngeal infection at the same time (which could cause you to lose your voice), this is unlikely. The vast majority of the time a positive "rapid step" (test done in the ofifce giving immediate results) in the setting of a scratchy throat and hoarseness is a false positive test (i.e. the test is wrong).

A severe swollen throat with pain and swelling down the front of the neck and a "hot potato" voice can be a sign of something dangerous and immediate medical attention should be sought.

I think about 20 D's


actually many health departments and other public health agencies are offering it to people free of charge. check with your town's public health officials. Also, if you fall under one of the three "high risk" rankings, you may qualify for a free vaccination.

There are four antiviral medicines, such as Tamiflu, that can help reduce the severity and length of the influenza illness (and other viral infections). They should be given within the first 48 hours of onset of symptoms to be effective. There is no similar medicine for the common cold yet. For colds the way to get well faster is to treat the symptoms of cough, fever, aches, etc. with over-the-counter medicines and to rest in bed and drink plenty of fluids.

No you can not. H1N1 is transferred just like any other cold or flu which means physical contact with their body or bodily fluids.

difference between killed and inactivated vaccine

Influenza viruses can be destroyed with heat, so if sufficiently heated, the microwaved virus should be neutralized. Common cooking temperatures will be hot enough, 167-212°F (75-100°C) does the trick.

Adults should get seasonal influenza vaccine annually.

Adults shed influenza virus from the day before symptoms begin through 5-10 days after illness onset. However, the amount of virus shed, and presumably infectivity, decreases rapidly by 3-5 days after onset in an experimental human infection model. Young children also might shed virus several days before illness onset, and children can be infectious for 10 or more days after onset of symptoms. Severely immunocompromised persons can shed virus for weeks or months.

Drink lots of water, rest in bed, and eat nutritious foods. Stay out of public and wash your hands frequently to avoid passing it along to others.

There are over the counter medicines for the symptoms of cough, congestion, aches and fever, but there are no drugs to stop the infection the way antibiotics can stop a bacterial infection. There are antiviral medicines that can lessen the duration and severity of symptoms, but they are not very effective if given after the first two days of symptoms. However, usually the symptoms are gone after a week to 10 days even without treatment.

Ask your pharmacist for suggestions for OTC products to treat your specific symptoms until your body can cure the viral infection.

Bridget Oberlin

My own experience is "yes".

Years ago, a cold making the rounds finally came to me... but the cold never developed. Why? On the way home, my stress-filled double-shift caught up with me; I wept all the way home. A few hours later, I realized my symptoms... sore throat and stuffy nose (cold-related, not cry-related)... were gone. I was grateful to be cold-free but thought it odd. (I concluded the rhinovirus hadn't survived the deluge.)

I'd nearly forgotten about that until October of 2009. Again, the feeling I was getting "everyone's cold". Again, tears; again, no cold. (This time, the tears were from "Bambi". The part where Bambi's orphaned by the hunter gets me every time.)

It is scant evidence. (The sample's too small to be statistically significant.) On the other hand, it doesn't cost anything to try to cry your cold away, right? I'm hoping I remember these two flukes when my next cold hits. My first line of defense will be "Imitation of Life" (the Lana Turner/Juanita Moore one).

Herbal teas of wild cherry bark, licorice root, horehound and/or mullein leaf.

Me, my mother, and my father have all had what we're calling "Flumonia". It's like the flu & pneumonia all in one! It's miserable, and we think it is some type of virus. Neither of my parents went to the doctor (because they don't have insurance), but used some antibiotics for pneumonia and were sick for about a week. Now, I have it, and I will be going to the doctor in the morning.

I said all that to say this: It has had a 2-week incubation period for all of us.

Father was sick for 1 week, 2 weeks later, Mother gets it.

Mother was sick for a week, 2 weeks later, I get it.

My brother should be next. But let's hope not! Lysol!

Maybe you have what I have?

If you have been exposed to the virus that causes H1N1 Pandemic Swine Flu, either from having had the flu or from getting a vaccination for it, then your body will have made antibodies to the virus, as long as you have a healthy immune system. Once your body has made antibodies to that virus, you are immune to the disease if exposed in the future, as long as it is the exact same virus and not a mutated form of it. This immunity is provided by the previously made antibodies.

The main thing you want to do with a cold sore is dry it out. Try not to get the area of the cold sore wet! Drying out the cold sore will make it disappear in as short a time as 3 days, and thinking that they can last 2 weeks+ that's a good time to wait.

What I use to dry out a cold sore is Mouthwash! Just get a piece of kitchen/toilet paper (a clean piece of course) and put the paper (folded up to make it thicker) over the top of the mouthwash bottle and then turn it all over so the mouth wash pours on the paper cleanly. Then, hold the mouthwash soaked paper on the cold sore. Do NOT move it around or take it off for at least 1-2 minutes as this will spread the cold sore to other areas around the face. Repeat this process every 2-4 hours and the cold sore should dry out.

This method of drying the cold sore out can after removal of the paper begin to sting or you may get a throbbing sensation, although the outcome is totally worth it!

There is no single pill to cure typhoid and yellow fever. You have a pill to cure typhoid but no pill to cure the yellow fever. Yellow fever is a viral infection and there is no specific pill for the same.

The best thing to drink while having a fever would be water, or if you are not eating, throwing up or having diarrhea you should drink something like Gatorade to give you electrolytes or fruit juice. However you should not drink any kind of alcohol, coffee, or anything else that will dehydrate you.

* My doctor informed me that a person is contagious only when they have a fever.

* My doctor told me the same as the first answer but said that you need to be fever-free for at least 24 hours (48 hours is better) without the aid of ibuprofen before you can be sure of no longer being contagious.

*This is not always accurate. Consider the common cold. People can show symptoms and never have a fever, yet cold viruses still spread. It may be a good rule of thumb that if you have a fever you are at the most contagious point in your infection, but you may be contagious before or after a fever has occurred. If your fever has subsided then you may be safe to be in public, but continue to take precautions not to infect others by limiting touch to surfaces, wearing a face mask or covering your mouth, etc.

Usually a high fever lasts only a few days for a normal bout of the flu without secondary infections, perhaps 3 days at the most, although low grade fevers can accompany flu symptoms for slightly longer. All symptoms of the flu are usually gone in 7 to 10 days, although sometimes a cough can last for a couple of weeks after the other symptoms are gone.

Drinking a lot of fluids can help a lot ,if you buy a packet of sweets with menthol contained in them and suck one each 2 hours that does a great deal .Finally try and soothe it ,ice cream ,cold drinks or maybe popping an ice cube in your drink, there is no way you can make a sore throat go instantly ,or within a few hours and if your sore throat persists constantly or gets to a point where its hard to swallow being quite painful just go to your gp, to see if you need to take some antibiotics.