Great way to kick off the new year: You’ve got achy muscles, a densely packed schnoz and your head swims in what seems like your own personal sauna.
Somewhere between Dad’s eggnog and Aunt Ruthie’s seasonal smooch, you shared more than holiday good cheer with your family. It’s the gift that won’t stop giving: influenza, a nasty cold or that mystery ailment that’s mowing them down at the office.
If it helps, you’re not alone.
An estimated 126,880,000 people-half the U.S. population-had flu and cold symptoms as of Jan. 7, according to a weekly survey of 1,680 medical personnel in 70 regional markets sponsored by the SmithKline Beecham pharmaceutical firm.
“Last week was the highest (flu-and-cold) level nationally that we’ve ever recorded,” says Andrew Kress, vice president of Surveillance Data Inc., a Philadelphia firm that has been tracking nationwide bug peaks for 11 years so that its pharmaceutical clients know where to ship products. The week’s peak eclipses the most severe week of the 1991-’92 monster flu outbreak. But flu watchers say it is too early to tell how this year will compare with others.
“At this point in the season, everywhere is getting hammered,” Kress says, though Boston, Ft. Lauderdale, Kansas City and Long Island hurt the worst.
“It’s not uncommon to see activity increase sharply right after the Christmas holidays because people have been traveling around, gathering indoors, then they get back in classrooms and back on campus and back at work” where they spread fresh infections, says Dr. Nancy Arden, chief of the influenza branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Also, all the winter indoor heating dries out our mucus, the body’s highly unappreciated germ shield, allowing bacterial and viral bugs to latch on to nose and mouth membranes.
But despair not. We’re here to help you in the Battle of the Bug.
“There are three ways to prevent contracting colds and flu: `Hand washing, hand washing and hand washing,’ ” says Dr. Robert Murray, a top disease tracker for California.
Don’t wait until you’re sick to take care of yourself. A little rest, exercise and healthful nutrition will bolster your immune system. If none of this works, launch the counterattack.
You’ve heard it a jillion times: The best cure for flu or cold is to drink oceans of liquids and hit the bed. Liquids are natural decongestants, prevent dehydration and cool fevers.
To win the cold war, it helps to know your foe.
COLDS: A cold is marked by runny or stuffy nose and watery, itchy eyes, congested head and low fever (99 degrees at most). You typically can rule out the flu if you don’t have achy muscles or energy-zapping malaise.
Antihistamines relieve the above symptoms but at a price: drowsiness. So, if you have to take them, make sure you don’t drink or use heavy machinery. Two prescription antihistamines, Seldane and Hismanal, don’t make you drowsy because they don’t enter the brain.
Don’t go back to work until you feel better.
INFLUENZA: Influenza brings high fever, headache, sore throat, dry, hacking cough, achy muscles and malaise. You just plain feel bad and want to go to bed. After a day or two, the infection will typically sink into your lungs as your body mobilizes mucus in an effort to shield your respiratory membranes.
Don’t give aspirin to anyone under age 20 who has flu or chicken pox symptoms. This combination is linked to Reye’s syndrome, a potentially fatal illness. Use the painkiller acetaminophen, contained in brands such as Tylenol.
If you haven’t already gotten a flu shot, it will still be effective – in about two weeks. Alas, many vaccination programs have closed. But people who are most vulnerable – those age 60 and older and the chronically ill – may still be able to obtain shots from their private physicians.
Because influenza can develop into secondary infections, such as pneumonia, the elderly and other vulnerable people are encouraged to get a lifetime vaccination for pneumococcal pneumonia.
Don’t go back to work until you’re all better. You’ll just infect your co-workers. Your body needs rest to repair itself.
STREP THROAT: It makes swallowing torture, but it’s readily treated with antibiotics.
Don’t fool around, though. See the doctor pronto. Strep throat is related to rheumatic fever, which can damage your heart if it’s not treated.
