A code in my hed

A cold has reared it's ugly head, so I thought some information might be of help.

The cold is the most common infectious disease in the United States. The cold accounts for more absences from work and school than any other illness. It is the #1 cause of patient visits to doctors. It is not easy to catch a cold. Your body's immune defenses usually fight off these viruses. There is a direct correlation between the amount of time spent in contact with an infected person and your risk of catching a cold. This is why family members tend to get colds together.

In most cases , something called a "rhinovirus" (our little friend pictured above) is the cause of the common cold, while a variety of other viruses are responsible for the remaining cases of the cold. However, bacterial infections are rarely the cause of upper respiratory symptoms so antibiotics won't help most colds. Almost all cases of the common cold are caused by VIRUSES, and antibiotics do not work against viral infections. In spite of this fact, an amazing 60% of colds are treated with antibiotics.

Colds are more easily transmitted through contact with the nose and eyes more frequently than through the mouth. People seem very concerned with kissing someone or sharing drinks with someone who has a cold, but they don't really think shaking hands with someone who has a cold is important, and in fact that is very important.

The most common means of infection is not from sneezing or coughing, but from hand-to-hand contact. That is why washing your hands frequently when you have a cold is so important. If you are physically exhausted or overtired, also, the chances of you becoming a victim of the cold virus increase.

I'm treating the symptoms of my cold with Sudafed and Ibuprofen. They don't make the cold go away sooner, just make it more manageable. Until I'm over it, i'm treating you like the Iranian government; no handshakes for you.