Sudden rains or the change of seasons easily cause many people to catch colds. So what is this disease and how to treat it when it occurs? Let's find out what you need to know about this issue with me in the article below to prepare for the coming autumn and winter.
1. What is a cold?
Cold is a common disease, common in all subjects, especially in children and the elderly. This is a respiratory disease, caused by a viral infection of the respiratory tract. Although the level is not as severe as the flu, it still causes the patient to feel tired and lack energy for daily activities.
The disease usually appears when it is cold and rainy, or it can be during a sudden change in weather. At that time, the body is easily affected by pathogens such as viruses or bacteria.
Cold is a common illness of the upper respiratory tract
This is a common disease and hardly affects the health of adults, but it can have a great impact on children if infected. The reason is because young children have immature immune systems, and adverse conditions can affect respiratory organs such as lungs and bronchi.
2. Common causes and symptoms
Reason
Colds are caused by viruses, of which the most common are viruses of the genus Rhinovirus, or Enterovirus. The main way for the virus to enter the human body is through the eyes, nose, mouth, or also through droplets in the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
Less common are cases of viral infection from contact with objects containing the virus when touching or sharing items with an infected person.
Common symptoms
After the body is infected with the virus for about 2-3 days, the patient will have symptoms of the disease affecting the sinuses, nose, and throat organs, lasting from 3 to 7 days. The first 3 days are the most contagious time for others.
The common cold will only appear mild symptoms, the disease can go away on its own after a week of symptoms appearing. Symptoms can vary from person to person, here are some of the most common:
• Nasal congestion, difficulty breathing.
• A lot of runny nose, tears.
• Cough.
• Sore throat, sore throat.
• Headaches, body aches.
• Sneeze.
• Mild fever.
• Feeling tired inside.
Patients may have a mild fever when infected
Some patients may experience loss of taste, swollen lymph nodes. You may also feel pressure in your ears and face when you have a cold.
Although the disease can heal on its own within a few days, there are also some cases that are not treated in time, a cold will cause a number of complications for the body, such as asthma, otitis media, acute sinusitis or other secondary infections. Therefore, the patient needs to go to the hospital to receive timely treatment if the disease cannot be cured on its own.
3. When to go to the hospital
For adults, you need to contact your doctor or go to the hospital if, after treatment with medicine, you still have symptoms such as:
• Fever higher than 38.5 degrees Celsius for 5 days or more or sudden fever after a period of cessation of fever.
• Frequent shortness of breath, wheezing.
• Sore throat and headache are many, prolonged.
• Severe sinus.
In the case of children with colds, you should pay attention to the children more often, because the disease in children will be more dangerous for adults. If not treated in time, it can lead to pneumonia or bronchitis in children. Therefore, take your child to a medical facility as soon as he or she has the following symptoms:
• Children from 1 to 4 months old have a fever of 38 degrees Celsius.
• Fever increases or persists for more than 2 days.
• The child's symptoms do not improve or show signs of increasing.
• The child has a cough, difficulty breathing, wheezing.
• Anorexia, fatigue.
• Earache, headache.
• Abnormal somnolence, disturbance of consciousness.
4. Treatment Methods
A cold is an uncomplicated illness, treatment is mainly focused on the symptoms of the disease. Doctors can prescribe pain relievers, fever reducers, nasal sprays, cough medicines to help alleviate the symptoms of the disease.
In addition, patients can also apply a number of simple treatment measures that are also very effective and have been applied a lot such as cleaning the nose, mouth and throat clean, drinking a lot of warm water.
Clean the nose by blowing the nose, pushing the mucus and nasal secretions out to prevent them from penetrating deeper, avoiding more severe disease.
Clean the mouth and throat by gargling 2-4 times a day with salt water with high antiseptic properties, which helps to soothe sore throat and effectively fight inflammation.
Drinking plenty of warm water, preferably lemon honey or ginger water, helps you dissolve phlegm in your throat, relieve cough and relieve sore throat, and keep your body warm.
Drinking ginger tea, warm honey lemon tea helps to improve the condition
5. Precautions
Currently in the transition period, the weather has many sudden changes, this is a favorable condition for the virus to thrive and invade the body if you do not have a good resistance and immune system. So, to avoid catching a cold, you need to do and teach your child how to do the following well:
• Wash your hands thoroughly and often with hand sanitizer or soap.
• Do not share items with others, especially people with colds, and limit contact with sick people.
• Clean the place of residence, ensure that the living space is always open, household items are disinfected to avoid bacteria accumulation.
• Take care of your health by eating scientifically, exercising regularly, and improving your body's resistance.
Wash your hands often to prevent bacterial infection
Colds are a common respiratory disease common in both adults and children, causing fatigue along with symptoms that affect daily life. Although it can be cured after a certain time, the patient should not be subjective because it can cause complications, especially more dangerous in young children. So go to the hospital when the symptoms show no signs of improvement.
